Giving Compass' Take:

• As AI and robots become more prevalent in the nonprofit sector, the authors offer advice on ways to prepare for future challenges in employment and public policy due to these technological advances. 

• What role do philanthropists play in the onset of AI in the nonprofit sector? 

• Read about how digital tech is transforming social innovation. 

Chatbots are computer programs designed to simulate conversation with people and minimize human intervention in delivering information. The “Age of Automation” will impact every area of our lives including civil society. As of April 2017, 100,000 Facebook messenger bots have reached more than 2 billion users.

Opportunities to converse with chatbots are growing, whether through our smartphones, tablets, home appliances, virtual personal assistants, or our cars. In fact, by 2020, according to Gartner analysts, “The average person will have more conversations with bots than with their spouse.”

Not surprisingly, enthusiastic techtopians are pronouncing all the wonderful ways that robots are going to help us. However, a fuller examination of the darker side of the bots is also required because they are going to change our relationship with society and with one another. And anything that affects our humanity and our relationships has profound implications for the nonprofit sector.

The ramifications of not paying attention to the societal effects of social media are being felt right now. Not enough attention was paid to the possibility of manipulation by foreign agents using platforms like Facebook. Nor did we make it a public policy priority to understand the ramifications of private companies incentivized to sell our data to advertisers and control what we see. These are important problems that require ongoing attention. The impact of the bots on employment in the near future, however, is a much bigger societal problem.

Given the enormous challenges ahead, we want to provide specific steps for people and organizations to thrive in the Age of Automation. They include:

  • Understand the Adoption Trends.
  • Get Some Hands-On Experience with Chatbots Developed for Social Good Purposes. 
  • Design a Simple Pilot. 
  • Evaluate and Iterate.

Read the full article about robots and nonprofits by Beth Kanter and Allison Fine at GuideStar Blog