While humanoid robots already compete in sporting Olympiads, even basic AI knowledge remains a privilege for many humans. That is why we should appreciate more than ever the efforts taken to teach the skills of tomorrow to all sectors of the society.

One such important sector is social impact work. That is where ExpertHub took a peek last weekend in Helsinki. We participated in the workshops “Empower Your Impact: AI Skills for Social Good” organized by Moniheli Network of Multicultural Associations in cooperation with Laurea and Humak Universities of Applied Sciences.

The event was part of the DigiUp and SaavutaÄly projects, which aim to train NGOs to become more digitally literate and enable them to skillfully implement the newest technologies in their work.

One important takeaway was that…

…an impact-driven organization that becomes AI-literate can demonstrate how these skills contribute to social good.

As digitalization becomes a priority of many funding sources, more and more organizations aim to become experts in this field. But a more indirect motivation lies in the fact that, in order to catch up with transforming needs of the target groups, imposed by increasingly digitalized world, basic AI skills are more necessary for the development and accuracy of the organizations’ visions by day.

Essentially, a set of AI tools that was initially perceived as trivializing creative work in social impact organizations is now increasingly seen as a necessity and an asset.

A large part of the discussions during the workshop focused on the mixed emotions accompanying this transformation. Both curiosity and fear were clearly expressed, as pressure and hope are felt equally strongly in this environment. Sure, dangers and doubts are there, but AI is also seen as the invention that brings opportunities. This duality reflects a broader societal tension: how to balance the risks and opportunities of AI.

As one of the project coordinators said: “People were afraid to use calculators too, they did not know how ethical it is to do the equations there instead of doing it by themselves”. Calculators, however, do not produce results without human input.

The challenges preventing social impact NGO workers from applying AI are similar to the dilemmas faced in other fields.

On one hand, there are issues of authorship and creativity in projects, grant writing, and content production. On the other, there is a poor understanding of the rules, regulations, and competencies needed to implement AI efficiently and ethically.

What comes as a surprise to new users is that in order to utilize AI efficiently, the technical skills are not always needed. Rather, it is the accurate prompting, awareness of biases, and critical thinking that are crucial abilities. And they are all trainable.

Building awareness of AI drawbacks, like biases, hallucinations, unsustainability, and opacity, also paradoxically allows users to focus on the bright sides of the technology – as it builds the human capacity to use the technology effectively, ethically and for a good purpose within what is possible and safe. So even though these issues have been extensively debated – they were mentioned more as factors to be aware of when implementing AI.

One of the conclusions was that…

building new security and data protection policies, creating clearer regulations, keeping the HITL (human in the loop), and setting clearer ethical standards is a direction that decision-makers must focus on already today.

This would encourage sectors such as non-governmental social impact organizations to join the digital transformation and contribute to building an innovative society as a whole.

Read more about the DigiUp and SaavutaÄly.