Conversation Design Institute

Conversation Design Institute (CDI) is a Dutch company that helps enterprises get their AI conversations right. Founded in 2018, with offices in Amsterdam (NL) and Austin (USA), CDI sets standards for conversational and agentic AI, trains and certifies professionals, and consults for leading enterprises. Its mission is to help the world get AI-powered conversations right: human-centred, inclusive, ethical, and goal-oriented. CDI teaches thousands of people worldwide how to create better AI assistants, and its growing team of experts works with organisations to develop better AI assistants and the capabilities they need to support and scale them. CDI was founded on two basic ideas. First, in human-machine conversations, human psychology should be just as important as artificial intelligence; instead of focusing only on engineering capabilities, design patterns from behavioural psychology and linguistics should be incorporated to create AI assistants that genuinely connect with humans. This principle forms the foundation of the CDI Method. Second, organisations need expertise and thoughtful planning when scaling their AI assistants to engage with a growing audience; companies must methodically build their capabilities and develop dedicated in-house conversational AI teams. The CDI Standards Framework emerged from this vision to give organisations a clear roadmap to success. These foundational ideas quickly proved valuable to major enterprises worldwide, and within just 12 months CDI established partnerships. CDI offers assessment, team training and certification, consulting, and forward-deployed experts. Its CDI Standards Framework defines what it takes to get AI conversations right: thirty-one standards across six domains, each with maturity levels. The company also promotes the concept of Conversational Capital, a framework for measuring what AI conversations build across millions of customer interactions, using lenses such as the Empathy–Agency Grid and the Conversational Value Curve. Brands like Nespresso, Lloyds, and Lidl work with CDI to get their AI conversations right. The CDI Foundation (CDIF) is a non-profit organisation that represents, promotes, and develops the Conversational AI community. It promotes standards and best practices for creating human-centric, empathetic, goal-oriented and inclusive AI assistants, and conducts research, education, and industry development. CDIF engages with individuals, partner organisations, universities and schools, technology companies, and consultancy firms worldwide, with a strong presence in the US, Canada, Europe, and Australia. Through its online Conversation Design Festival, CDIF reaches a global community of over 1,000 Conversational AI professionals, and its Beyond Boundaries event brings the community together in person each year. It is visible to over 6,000 active learners in more than 50 countries.

Conversation Design Institute (CDI) was founded in 2018 on two basic ideas. First, in human-machine conversations, human psychology should be just as important as artificial intelligence. Instead of focusing only on engineering capabilities, CDI believed that design patterns from behavioural psychology and linguistics should be incorporated to create AI assistants that genuinely connect with humans. This principle forms the foundation of the CDI Method. Second, organisations need expertise and thoughtful planning when scaling their AI assistants to engage with a growing audience. Companies must methodically build their capabilities and develop dedicated in-house conversational AI teams. The CDI Standards Framework emerged from this vision to give organisations a clear roadmap to success. These foundational ideas about Conversational AI quickly proved valuable to major enterprises worldwide. Within just 12 months, CDI established partnerships. The company grew to operate from offices in Amsterdam (NL) and Austin (USA), and it now sets standards for conversational and agentic AI, trains and certifies professionals, and consults for leading enterprises. Its mission is to help the world get AI-powered conversations right: human-centred, inclusive, ethical, and goal-oriented. CDI teaches thousands of people worldwide how to create better AI assistants, and its growing team of experts works with organisations to develop better AI assistants and the capabilities they need to support and scale them. CDI's work is organised around several offerings: assessment against the CDI Standards Framework, team training and certification, consulting, and forward-deployed experts placed inside client teams. The CDI Standards Framework defines what it takes to get AI conversations right: thirty-one standards across six domains, each with maturity levels, grounded in years of work. CDI also promotes Conversational Capital, a rigorous framework for measuring what AI conversations build across millions of customer interactions, using lenses such as the Empathy–Agency Grid and the Conversational Value Curve. Brands like Nespresso, Lloyds, and Lidl work with CDI to get their AI conversations right. The CDI Foundation (CDIF) is a non-profit organisation that represents, promotes, and develops the Conversational AI community. It promotes standards and best practices for creating human-centric, empathetic, goal-oriented and inclusive AI assistants that talk to people via chatbots and voice applications, and it conducts research, education, and industry development. The foundation supports the CDI Standards Framework, which helps enterprises develop high-performing Conversational AI capabilities. CDIF engages with individuals and partner organisations, universities and schools, technology companies, and consultancy firms. Its engagement is worldwide, with a strong presence in the US, Canada, Europe, and Australia. Through its online Conversation Design Festival, CDIF reaches a global community of over 1,000 Conversational AI professionals, and its Beyond Boundaries event brings the community together for an in-person event each year. CDIF is visible to over 6,000 active learners in more than 50 countries with a large and growing global alumni community.

• 2018

  Conversation Design Institute founded.

• Within 12 months of founding, CDI established partnerships.

• CDI Standards Framework developed, defining thirty-one standards across six domains.

• CDI Foundation established as a non-profit organisation for the Conversational AI community.

• Conversation Design Festival reaches a global community of over 1,000 Conversational AI professionals.

• Beyond Boundaries annual in-person event brings the community together.

Standards-setting training, certification and consulting for enterprise conversational and agentic AI.

• Assessment

  Assesses team, technology, and organisation against the CDI Standards Framework.

• Team training and certification

  Training and certification programmes to grow a team's knowledge and confidence.

• Consulting

  Support on launching or scaling conversational AI initiatives.

• Forward-Deployed Experts

  Places a certified CDI expert inside a client team to improve existing conversations.

• CDI Standards Framework

  Thirty-one standards across six domains, each with maturity levels.

• Conversational Capital

  Framework for measuring what AI conversations build across customer interactions.

1. 1Conversation Design Institute | Get AI conversations rightconversationdesigninstitute.com
2. 2About | Conversation Design Instituteconversationdesigninstitute.com
3. 3The CDI Foundation | Conversation Design Instituteconversationdesigninstitute.com
4. 4Conversational Capital: Measure What Your AI Conversations Buildconversationdesigninstitute.com
5. 5Conversation Design Institutewikidata.org