As the human race has evolved over the centuries, we have relied on varying forms of technology in order to assist us in daily efforts that improve our quality of life and overall improve the efficiency of society, this is applicable to the emerging technology of generative AI. Although it is relatively new, it has taken the world by storm by being able to make the most tedious of tasks trivial but leading children and adults to develop an over dependence on technology, inhibiting one’s ability to solve problems and overall critical thinking skills. An environment where these skills are a must in order to build a successful initiative is philanthropy, having a mission to address a certain issue impacts sometimes thousands of individuals and thus requires effective competent leadership to oversee the implementation of strategies to address a certain issue and uphold the heart of philanthropy (that being empathy fairness, and human dignity.) Thus, in order to uphold an effective philanthropic environment AI should be thought of as a tool, being used to refine and support, rather than create or lead.

The foundations of a philanthropic cause should be coming from a human mind rather than an AI generated prompt. Firstly Generative AI has been found to falsify information in a misleading way (referred to as hallucinations.) Some of the most widely used generative AI models such as ChatGPT or Copilot have also been found to have hallucinations (“When AI Gets”). The foundations of any initiative serves as the building block for something great and thus must be easily understandable by both the leaders and followers of a given initiative; Using generative AI could inhibit a leadership team’s ability to establish an effective initial plan due to not only these hallucinations but also completely remove the thought process that is put behind the establishment of a plan. Further, with Generative AI being built on pattern recognition aside from hallucinations it can also have biases that could go against modern social norms and really harm the credibility of a philanthropic initiative. In addition, the addition of bias completely goes against the core values of philanthropy ( empathy, fairness and human dignity.) For example in 2018 amazon recalled an AI driven hiring tool, which was meant to seek out talent but instead was found to be biased against women (“Mitigating Bias”). It is evident that at a recruitment and leadership level AI should not be used heavily and should always require a human presence due to the negative impact these flaws of Generative AI can create for a philanthropic initiative.

However, generative AI can have multiple uses in modern philanthropy, mostly in an administrative and communication side. Philanthropy is about the giving not the giver, however that does not mean that people are always wanting a philanthropists help, due to factors such as philanthropic help feeling more like charity than actual assistance when presented from a morally superior point of view; Feelings of pride, can act as a deterrent for receiving philanthropic assistance and thus that is why it is important for philanthropists to master the art of negotiation, and this is where AI can truly start to assist. Already Generative AI has started to be used by retailers to better understand increasing consumer demands (Holdsworth and Finio). With its ability to interpret and draw connections from customers’ demands it is clear that with the millions of gigabytes worth of data AI has access to, creating a more appealing philanthropic initiative has never been easier or more effective. Moreover, the use of AI in a more administrative role can help with organisation, things like planning meetings, sending emails and overall communication can be revolutionized in a more efficient manner.

In conclusion, generative AI, although useful, is not a human. When it comes to the attitude of philanthropy it is something very difficult for an AI to interpret and understand considering its built on pattern recognition, when put in a leadership position things like bias, hallucinations and misinformation can harm a philanthropic initiative not only from a logistical perspective but also from a principle perspective as it can fail to fully uphold philanthropic ideals of empathy, fairness and dignity. However, to completely dismiss the potential of this new and exciting technology that is also counterproductive, AI can be used in the organisation and distribution of work but also be used to create appeal to a philanthropic initiative due to its ability to interpret certain data sets. As we move into the future and reflect on the past it is important that we as leaders and philanthropists treat Generative AI as a tool and not a decision maker, using this technology to create meaningful change throughout our world.