AI brings benefits and risks. Before taking the plunge, it’s worth considering whether your charity needs AI just yet. And if not, what’s the alternative?
AI presents exciting opportunities for charities, from recruitment to resource planning, predicting future trends to targeting donors.
As the sum of information in the world grows, AI will keep learning and improving, based on this ever-increasing pool of knowledge.
But it’s worth looking before you leap. AI comes with risks as well as benefits – risks that aren’t always properly considered in the rush to stay ahead of the curve. And, depending on the size and income of your charity, there are simpler, cheaper tools that may serve just as well.
What are the risks?
Public perception
A recent survey showed that many people feel uneasy about the thought of charities using AI, especially when it comes to the risk of data breaches, unethical decisions and charities losing the personal touch.
AI bias
AI learns from historical data, which comes with prejudices and outdated cultural stereotypes. This can cause it to make unfair decisions. And unfortunately, according to ICO guidance, the buck stops with you: “Demonstrating that an AI system is not unlawfully discriminatory under the EA2010 is … additional to your obligations relating to discrimination under data protection law.”
Lack of transparency
The reasoning behind AI’s decisions isn’t always clear. If a decision (prioritising resources in one area over another, say, or shortlisting of job applicants) were challenged, it could be hard to justify to the public and your funders.
Data privacy
Any AI system you use to process data must fully comply with all legal security requirements and industry standards. Data must be encrypted, with strict access controls. Even then, you should avoid inputting any personally identifiable information, including financial data. While you can buy protective software, if your data is compromised your charity will be legally liable, and you may lose public credibility and trust.
Losing the personal touch
If your communications sound as though they’ve come from a chat-bot, this can feel alienating, especially for someone vulnerable or in crisis when the warmth of human communication might be key.
AI gets things wrong – more often than you might think
When AI produces wrong or misleading information, it’s called a ‘hallucination’ – and they’re getting more common. A recent article in Scientific American points out that if an AI system doesn’t have the right data to answer a question it will ‘make up stuff to fill in the blanks’.
Plagiarism
If you’re using AI to create content – such as articles or posts for a fundraising campaign –the suggested wording may exist already on the web. You’ll need to keep an eye on this to avoid infringement of copyright.
Loss of unique local knowledge
You are the expert on your local area. With all their analytical powers, AI algorithms can’t take the place of real human understanding of a local community and its people.
Automation might be the best solution for smaller charities
Automation brings many of the benefits of AI – but with less cost and less risk.
An automated system will do data entry and importing, set up workflow processes with prompts and reminders, assign tasks to co-workers, reduce response times, set access controls for data protection, send personalised appointment reminders or follow-up emails and more. And, of course, it helps you track progress, log outcomes and run reports for funders and donors.
With a trustworthy automated CRM, you keep control of your data and you set the rules – such as access controls for different groups of users, or metrics for monitoring outcomes and running reports.
Nothing else will be going on behind the scenes that you haven’t already specified, and you won’t need to worry about AI mistakes or bias.
Plus, if you work with Charitylog, you’ll have the reassurance of knowing that all your data is held securely in the UK.
Conclusion
If your charity is in a position to use AI safely and responsibly, with the time to create a robust data framework, provide ongoing staff training and mitigate the risks, AI is likely to be a great choice.
But for smaller charities who don’t need the advanced analysis or predictive functionality of AI, or those who can’t or don’t want to deal with the risks and complexity that come with AI, a smart, automated, charity-specific CRM such as Charitylog will speed up day-to-day work, crunch the numbers, monitor outcomes and run reports – all while keeping the crucial human touch.
It just might be the best of both worlds.