About us
We connect people, knowledge and what becomes possible.
Next Step Culture works with organisations to discover how AI can serve their work and goals. We bring organisational development, research and software together, from the first question to everyday use.
Business · Education · Research · Culture & administration
The founding team
Two perspectives. Working together.
Claudia Baumbusch
Leadership & organisational development
Art historian (M.A.), coach and qualified practitioner of Theme-Centred Interaction (TCI). She brings many years of experience in leadership, cultural work and digitalisation projects in public administration. Her focus is on people, their values and how change takes root in everyday work.
Daniel Autenrieth
AI research & software development
M.Sc. and M.A., researches the values, knowledge and judgements at work in AI systems. He connects this research with building applications designed to work transparently on the basis of an organisation’s knowledge.
Published together
Using Next Step Culture as a practice example, Daniel Autenrieth and Claudia Baumbusch explore how AI can support reflection and shifts in perspective. They focus on learning environments where people can question their assumptions and professional routines.
KI als Katalysator transformativer BildungsprozesseWhat drives us
Organisations should be able to shape their own future with AI.
That takes an understanding of what should improve and the people who will carry the change. Together, we connect the two and develop suitable software.
Develop with people.
We involve experiences, questions and different perspectives early. They help shape a shared understanding of the next steps.
Turn knowledge into work.
Materials and conversations provide a foundation for applications that can prepare work, analyse information and take on recurring tasks.
Assess impact in practice.
We clarify responsibility and look at actual use. We develop what helps and change what does not.
From our research and practice
Research that shapes our development.
Our work connects research with developing AI for everyday practice. These contributions show the questions and methods that guide us.
Conceptual contribution · 2025
How does AI change collaboration?
This article explores how universities can shape collaboration with AI through anticipatory governance. Questions of participation, responsibility and adaptable rules also inform our work with other organisations.
Partners or Tools? Anticipatory Governance for Human-AI Complementarity in Higher Education
Daniel Autenrieth, Jan-René Schluchter
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Zeitschrift für Hochschulentwicklung · 20(4) · 2025Research contribution · 2026
Which values guide AI?
This chapter connects educational values with a systematic examination of AI decisions. It informs our approach to assessing whether AI fits its context through concrete situations and explicit criteria.
The Pedagogical Stance of AI
Daniel Autenrieth
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Oxford Intersections: AI in Society · 2026Preprint · 2026
How can we study everyday AI use?
This preprint combines behavioural traces, adaptive interviews and qualitative interpretation. It reports 13 studies with 147 completed sessions in teacher education; human validation of automatically selected reflection anchors is still pending.
Beyond Self-Report: Making AI Use Observable at Scale
Daniel Autenrieth, Lea Schulz, Nina Autenrieth
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Zenodo · v1.0 · 2026
Our name, our origins
Culture is part of our story. And of every organisation.
Our work has roots in culture, education and public administration. These fields show us how closely knowledge, values and social responsibility are connected. Today, we also work with businesses and researchers. The question that connects us is how AI can serve an organisation’s particular purpose.
Explore our workLet’s think about the next step together.
What is on your organisation’s mind? In a conversation, we can start to explore what might become possible.
Explore the possibilities