Should fundraisers fear the rise of AI?

So page 6 of this issue is a bit of an eye opener. Artificial intelligence (AI), especially his ChatGPT, has been in the news a lot in recent weeks following the departure of the generally accepted “godfather of AI” Jeffrey Hinton from Google. On his departure, he warned of the impact of technological progress and its impact on society and humanity as a whole.

Intrigued, I asked ChatGPT to write a 750-word article on how AI can be used in charitable fundraising. The AI chatbot took about 25 seconds. Aside from slightly overrunning the word count, the piece was just convincing, coherent, orderly, and informative. The article appeared on p6 almost exactly as it appeared on the screen, except for correcting US spelling and trimming it to fit the word count on the page. Frankly, it’s scary for journalists. But that is not the case for fundraisers. Here’s why.

First, the platform itself acknowledges that building relationships with donors is a human endeavor. This is something that AI will likely be able to reproduce soon enough, only in the world of science fiction. Second, AI has obvious uses to streamline some of the more routine tasks of fundraising, such as analyzing and managing data, segmenting donors, and other routine tasks. This gives fundraiser more time to be creative, plan strategically, and build relationships with donors. That’s what fundraisers are good at. And thirdly, the very fact that it could potentially threaten my job based on this experiment suggests that the talent could be used in promotional and campaign copywriting, social media posting, storytelling, and even funding. It proves that it can extend to the application.

Despite having been in our consciousness for ages, whether in fiction or fact, AI appears to be approaching a tipping point where its much-touted potential may be fully realized. is. For fundraisers, this is an exciting opportunity with many applications on a daily basis across sectors. We humans may have to work harder when it comes to editors and journalists.

@steve jcotteril Editor of fundraising magazine

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