Charity Commission releases new data on AI use in charities
Howard Lake | 16 August 2024 | News
The Charity Commission has released new data on charities’ use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), revealing that only 3% of trustees said their charity has so far used AI in its operations, although this rises to 8% for larger charities with income over £1 million.
Charity trustees were asked about AI use for the first time in the Charity Commission’s annual survey of trustees, released on 16 August 2024.
Of the trustees whose charities are using AI, almost 3 in 5 (58%) said it was used mainly for drafting web content or communications, while 2 in 5 (39%) said it was used for generating internal documents. Some are also testing its use in fundraising (24%).
Advertisement
Paul Latham, Director of Communication and Policy at the Charity Commission, said AI has the potential to free up valuable time spent on resource-intensive tasks, making more hours available for high priority areas.
Opportunities and risks
He emphasised that whether charities are already using AI, planning to do so, or don’t yet know how it might be useful, it is important they are aware of the opportunities and risks involved, and that AI should be used responsibly in a way that furthers their charity’s purposes.
The Commission noted it is doing further work on AI to learn more about its potential and risks, and how it fits with its regulatory role, while continuing to engage with the sector, central government and other regulators.
The full research is available on GOV.UK.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.