Grassroots and non-profit perspectives on generative AI
Why and how do non-profit and grassroots organisations engage with generative AI tools, and the broader AI debate?
JRF is looking at the potential for AI to generate public good. We'll be platforming some inspiring thinkers while positioning ourselves as an inquisitive explorer of this topic.
We’re exploring the potential for AI to be a force for public good and an instrument in the work we do to transition to a poverty-free future. We're not trying to push one specific viewpoint or propose specific policies. Instead, we want to start conversations and connect people from different fields to contribute to the ongoing discussions about AI.
In this work we aim to:
Our goal is to look not only at the practical implications of AI on the social sector, but also to think about power dynamics, relationships and the values AI promotes. We’ll do this as open, inquisitive and humble explorers of both the potential and the shortcomings of AI in the public sphere.
There will be 4 initial focus areas for our AI work. We’ll be commissioning content that explores these areas from different perspectives and sharing our key learnings from these reflections and ideas.
The 4 focus areas are AI narratives; AI in the public sector; AI and civil society and AI, power, relationships, and values.
We asked several experts the question: 'To what extent can AI improve public policy-making?' Authors have written a range of reflections - from the cautiously optimistic, to the fiercely critical.
In Dan MacQuillan's essay he argues that while AI may appear to offer benefits to public policymaking, it can't address the tricky structural issues that impede actual change, and will only amplify injustices.
Whereas Imogen Parker's essay asks if we can find a middle path between the idealised potential, and messy reality, of government using AI to shape public policymaking?
Why and how do non-profit and grassroots organisations engage with generative AI tools, and the broader AI debate?
Four exciting and creative writers explore the impacts of mainstream narratives on AI, the stories they tell and the voices they do and don’t include.
The first blog in JRF's AI for public good project. Yasmin Ibison outlines the project's aims and the key questions it will explore.