Witty Works, Rotwandstrasse 63, Zürich (2026)

16/05/2025

Witty Alumni at Your Service 😁

As a result of Witty Works closing, some of the Witty alumni are looking for (additional) work. We want to show case them here on LinkedIn. They held key roles in creating and shaping Witty.

So, as a first: Meet Tracey, https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0k6_-10
Tracey is the copywriter behind Witty's inclusive-language rules. Tracey helped build our rules for both English and German. As part of Witty's efforts to support clients in broadening and diversifying their talent pool, Tracey edited HR communications, from job ads to application portals and collaborated with recruiting teams on shaping a more inclusive candidate experience.

Tracey is also a freelancer. So, reach out to her if you want communications that make everyone, both inside and outside the organization, feel seen, valued, and respected.

Witty Works highly recommends her. She is fun to work with and has a great eye on the details we often tended to brush over, but which are crucial for a successful language.

24/04/2025

Goodbye 😥 and Thank You 🙏

We have sad news today. This is the last social media post from Witty Works as we are closing our business. 😮

We had seen promising growth in the first half year of 2024 with our inclusive writing assistant. But then came the backlash on DEI and the pressure of the US administration on international corporations to cancel their DEI programs. This has had a devastating impact on Witty Works. In consequence, we sadly had to decide that we won't continue with our enterprise anymore.

While one eye is crying, the other is smiling, because:
🎉 We met you during these years. And have learnt so much from you. Thank you, thank you for all your feedback and inputs!
🎉 We had the privilege to build a DEI tool from the ground up, with all the freedom our great investors gave us.
🎉 We got to sell our product and be used by many great clients, all supporting DEI at their fullest.

Here some two last recommendations:
👉 We hope you remain committed to addressing bias in HR and AI. So we recommend you have a look at the EU Bias project: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0jyRV70. You can sign up for their activities here: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0jynLn0
👉 As a Woman In Tech you are highly searched for on the labour market and yet it still seems to be difficult to get a job? Contact https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0jyNxJ0 (yes, we know, the company's name is agentic 😆 ). They are a great team and connect Women In Tech with companies.

😥 So, here they are - our last words. Keep being great as you are! And if you once in a while fail, rest, reflect, put your crown back on the head and stand up again. That's what we do now!

If you like to keep in touch, you can connect with us on LinkedIn:
Nadia, former CEO: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0jyRW30
Lukas, former CTO: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0jyQpB0

All the best from Nadia, Lukas and the whole past and present team at Witty Works

24/03/2025

A brilliant free workshop we highly recommend for all HR professionals, from our wonderful colleagues at the BIAS Project https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0hKHm10

As you all know:
AI is revolutionizing hiring, but hidden biases can undermine fairness. Did you know that job-matching algorithms may unintentionally disadvantage women? For example, slower response times from women are often misinterpreted as a lack of interest, reducing their job recommendations.

To tackle these challenges, the BIAS Project invites HR professionals to a free, online, and hands-on capacity-building session in Switzerland. Learn how to critically assess AI tools, address ethical concerns, and integrate fairness into recruitment processes.

Why attend?
✅ Understand bias in AI and HR
✅ Evaluate AI’s potential and limitations
✅ Balance AI insights with human judgment
✅ Develop strategies for fair and inclusive hiring

Register here:
https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0hKGHT0

06/02/2025

What are the benefits of Witty?

To explore this, we spoke with our clients and Louise Longuépée, Program Manager at LVMH’s La Maison des Startups. They shared how Witty supports their efforts to address challenges like inclusive recruitment, fostering diverse workplace cultures, and aligning with innovation needs.

All to be found here: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0gnndZ0

LVMH talks about:
👉 What won over the jury and the LVMH Maisons about Witty?
👉 How can Witty boost the success of LVMH brands ?
👉 Why was Witty chosen from among 1,500 start-ups?

And from other clients we learn:
👉 How is Witty helping Beekeeper with Bias Awareness?
👉 What can make MasonBreese Switzerland attractive to a diverse group of candidates?

05/02/2025

Witty Works' Ethics Board: 2025 Update

Witty has an Ethics Board that meets regularly. For transparency reasons, we publish our Ethics Board reports. Here a summary:

Looking back, the theme of 2024 for the first three quarters was iterating and improving what we already had. We also brought Witty to Microsoft Office while making our solution more accessible. In Q4 we then introduced some larger new features using Large-Language-Models (LLM) that required a deeper look. Throughout the year we continued to apply our ethics process which we developed in 2023.

Please read here the details of the report:
https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0gnlcS0
And read also about our ethics process: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0gnBSj0. This is also a handbook for startups that want to get into Ethics.

23/01/2025

How Witty mitigates compliance risk generated by LLMs like ChatGPT or Copilot in view of the EU AI Act🚀

The European Union’s new AI Act sets high standards for companies using artificial intelligence, emphasizing ethical usage and the need for inclusive, unbiased language. For businesses, the stakes are high: non-compliance could lead to fines, reputational damage, or lost trust. As AI becomes more central to everyday operations, ensuring compliance with regulations like the EU AI Act is critical.

Risks of Non-Compliance with the EU AI Act
⭐Financial Penalties: Companies face fines potentially reaching millions of euros for non-compliance, depending on the risk level of the AI system.
⭐Reputational Damage: AI-generated content with biased or exclusive language can harm brand reputation and lead to a loss of customer trust.
⭐Operational Disruptions: Non-compliance may require costly changes to AI systems, impacting business operations and delaying projects.

In our newest blog post https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0g0hWV0, we summarize how the EU AI Act impacts AI language requirements. Discover how Witty ensures compliance with inclusive language to help your business avoid penalties and enhance brand reputation.

Plus, in our FAQ section, we address the most common questions about the EU AI Act.
👉 What is the EU AI Act and when does it come into effect?
👉 How does the EU AI Act address inclusive language?
👉 What risks do businesses face for non-compliance with the EU AI Act?
👉 How can Witty help my business comply with the EU AI Act?
👉 Why aren't standard AI tools sufficient for compliance?

22/01/2025

Please beware: Certain commonly used, generally accepted language in job ads can get you into legal trouble and generate fines. For example: 'young and dynamic team'

Marko Verkic shares in this LinkedIn post (https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0g0gZ50) how his company had to pay €4,300 in compensation after a 51-year-old applicant claimed age discrimination due to a reference to a "young and dynamic team." Despite the position not being filled, the court ruled against the company.

And here the legal abstract of the original case already in 2016 (in German only): https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0g0j6J0

As one commenter noted, “Witty Works could have prevented this. Still, it’s a ridiculous ruling.” Another added, “Wow, this is a harsh reminder of how important every word in job ads can be. Terms like ‘young team’ can quickly become a legal issue in our regulatory environment—even without bad intentions. An expensive but valuable lesson many of us can learn from.”

We do believe Marko Verkic that there was no bad intention behind the original wording, and understand his frustration. Still, it is a cautionary tale for businesses, emphasizing the legal risks of careless wording in job ads. This highlights that words matter—not just for attracting talent but also for avoiding costly legal consequences.

With Witty you can make sure that such errors don't happen to you. So you don't get a costly fine.

09/01/2025

Fully energized from achievements in 2024, what is our roadmap of 2025? 🚀

As we look forward to the new year, we’re excited to share what’s next for Witty and what we’re working toward in 2025:

🤖Bringing Witty GPT to more customers: We aim to integrate Witty GPT into your existing LLM tools, making it easier to ensure bias-free and inclusive AI outputs where you write.
🍧Smoother sentence rephrasing: Adapting alternatives to fit into your text can be time-consuming. In 2025, Witty will rephrase entire sentences for you—starting with French in Microsoft Word and expanding to all languages and integrations.
🤩Building a Witty Add-In for Outlook: Since many of you use Outlook daily, we’re working to bring Witty directly into your emails, just like we’ve done for Microsoft Word.
🇪🇸🇮🇹New languages: Italian and Spanish are on our roadmap. Italian, as one of Switzerland’s national languages, is particularly relevant for public offices, and Spanish has been on the wishlist for a while.
📊Introducing benchmarks: We want to help you measure your progress. Wouldn't it be nice to compare your use of inclusive language to industry-wide benchmarks? For example: What are the top 3 non-inclusive words across all Witty users? How do you compare? That's one of our goals for 2025.

We can also change our minds! What would you like to see on our roadmap for 2025?

#2025

08/01/2025

Happy New Year to everyone!! May 2025 bring joy, luck, success and happiness.
I am sure we're all in need for it in a world that is so volatile and experiencing sad backlashes. Nonetheless, let's keep pushing for a more inclusive world together.

To get energized, we look at our achievements of 2024 before we check out our roadmap for 2025. Here they are:

This year brought some wonderful recognitions:
🏆One of our highlights was winning the Microsoft Entrepreneurship for Positive Impact Award, celebrated with a pitch of Witty on the the Eiffel Tower.
🚀Since July, we're part of the LVMH accelerator from La Maison des Startups. During VivaTech 2024, Witty was selected as one of 18 finalists for the LVMH Innovation Award, chosen from 1,545 startups worldwide.
🇫🇷We were thrilled to win the the French HR Award, where we earned third place.
🔌Finally, we won the Transformation Award of Manpower.

🤝Alongside these milestones, we welcomed new global clients and supported existing ones as they expanded Witty across their teams. Your trust and collaboration mean a lot to us—thank you!

On the product side, Witty made big steps forward:
🎉Witty is now available as an Add-In for Microsoft Word, making it easier to use right where you work.
🇫🇷We launched French, opening new doors for multilingual businesses and the French market.
🤖In Q4, we introduced Witty GPT, which works with tools like Microsoft Copilot to check AI-generated responses for bias and guide them toward inclusive language.

What were your achievements of 2024? What are you proud of? Even fails count since we can also be proud that we learnt something out of an error. 😉

#2024

23/12/2024

Witty Works takes a break until 5 January.
We hope you too. 🤩 Or at least some days.

We wish everyone relaxing days and a time to charge energy. We look forward to shaping the year 2025 with you with inclusion and community spirit. Let's embrace the possibilities ahead.

23/12/2024

Witty Works legt eine Pause ein bis zum 5. Januar.
Wir hoffen, du auch. 😍 Oder mindestens ein paar Tage.

Welche Tradition du auch immer feierst, möge dir das Neue Jahr Energie und Erholung bringen. Gemeinsam können wir auch 2025 zu einem Jahr der Inklusion und des Zusammenhalts machen. Lasst uns offen und neugierig füreinander sein und uns gegenseitig unterstützen, damit wir gestärkt in die Zukunft blicken können.

23/12/2024

Jusqu'au 5 janvier, Witty Works prendra une pause.

Nous espérons vous aussi. 🤩
Que cette période de fêtes, quelle que soit la fête que vous célébrez, soit l'occasion de se ressourcer et de se recentrer. Profitons-en pour cultiver la bienveillance, l'entraide et la curiosité, afin de construire ensemble une année 2025 riche en connexions et en opportunités pour tou·te·s. Prenons soin les un·e·s des autres et accueillons la nouvelle année avec optimisme et enthousiasme.

Tout le bon pour vous! Et merci pour votre grand soutien!

Witty Works

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