Arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence in philanthropy

Are Swiss phil­an­thro­pic orga­ni­sa­ti­ons aware of the poten­tial bene­fits and chal­lenges presen­ted by arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence (AI)? This is what a current survey by the Univer­sity of Geneva is hoping to find out. Even though using AI – such as chat­ting with ChatGPT – might be a temp­ting pros­pect, AI also harbours risks. If AI is used wron­gly, such as without the requi­site back­ground know­ledge, this new tech­no­logy can steer us to the wrong decis­i­ons. AI can place mino­ri­ties at a disad­van­tage during the hiring process, for instance. ‘We need to tigh­ten up our aware­ness of what AI can be used for, how can be used well and how it shouldn’t be used,’ says Giuseppe Ugazio, Assistant Profes­sor at the Geneva Finance Rese­arch Insti­tute, in an online inter­view with The Philanthropist. Accor­ding to Giuseppe Ugazio, it’s the job of phil­an­thropy to promote ethi­cal and inte­gra­ted AI and to enable ever­yone to access this new tech­no­logy. In the foun­da­tion sector, too, AI is home to a lot of poten­tial, such as for measu­ring impact or mana­ging resour­ces. One thing is clear: AI is now part of our day-to-day lives and will be gaining an ever-stron­ger foot­hold in them. In the inter­view, Giuseppe Ugazio discus­ses what they are hoping to find out with the survey.