Bringing heart to AI: Alumnus redefines technology with compassion
GivePulse founder George Luc '07 envisions a world where empathy and technology connect people and purpose.
When George Luc ’07 helped his older sister, Janet Luc Griffin ’02, move into her Virginia Tech residence hall in 1998, he wasn’t thinking about becoming a Hokie himself. He was simply helping his family.
“But she loved the school so much,” Luc said. “It was the best testimonial ever.”
It wasn’t long before Luc arrived in Blacksburg to study computer science in the College of Engineering, lured by Virginia Tech’s academic rigor, accessibility, and affordability.
“From a tuition standpoint, Virginia Tech was the most practical option,” he said. “But it also had a strong computer science program and a clear sense of purpose. It’s absolutely been worth the investment.”
That sense of purpose was rooted in the university’s motto, Ut Prosim (That I May Serve), a principle Luc continues to exemplify as the founder of GivePulse, a platform for fostering community engagement and impact.
From tragedy to transformation
Weeks before Luc graduated, the Virginia Tech community experienced the April 16, 2007, tragedy that claimed the lives of 32 students and faculty.
“That was incredibly difficult,” Luc said. “But it also revealed the strength of the community — how people showed up for one another in moments of profound loss.”
What stayed with him was was the way students, faculty, staff, alumni, and communities around the world mobilized to support one another.
Luc began asking a question that would shape his career: Why is it so hard to understand, measure, and support the ways communities care for each other, especially at scale?
“If I was going to build something,” he said, “I wanted to apply my skills in a way that genuinely served people and strengthened communities.”
Building infrastructure for community impact
That experience inspired Luc to found GivePulse, a civic and community engagement platform now used by universities, city governments, and nonprofit organizations to manage, measure, and understand their impact.
GivePulse helps institutions move beyond isolated events and anecdotes, enabling them to see who is engaging, why it matters, and how community efforts translate into real outcomes — from student learning and retention to volunteerism, civic participation, and social impact.
“What we’re really building is infrastructure for community engagement,” Luc said. “Not just tools to organize activity, but systems that help institutions make better decisions about how they serve.”
Putting people first in an AI-driven world
As artificial intelligence (AI) reshapes how institutions operate, Luc believes technology must remain grounded in human values.
“I think GivePulse can be the heart that brings humanity into these systems,” he said. “There’s so much focus on efficiency and optimization, but very little on meaning, belonging, and care.”
Luc describes this approach as “artificial empathy” — the idea that technology should be designed not only to process data, but to reflect context, values, and lived experience.
“AI can’t explain why people forgive, or why they show up for each other in moments of crisis,” he said. “We can empathize without agreeing. And if our systems don’t understand that, they risk amplifying division instead of strengthening communities.”
For governments, universities, and nonprofits increasingly relying on AI and analytics, Luc sees the real challenge as preserving trust and humanity at scale.
“There’s enormous opportunity ahead,” he said. “If we can teach our systems what compassion looks like — if we design technology to serve people first — we can build something that truly lives up to the spirit of Ut Prosim.”
