Artificial Intelligence blog by Tim Cook, Founder of Social Enterprise, AI Confident
I’m privileged. I get to have the first conversation about AI with leaders of organisations of all different types and sizes. I get to see a lot of immediate reactions. Have conversations filled with awe, trepidation and fear all at once. And I also get a lot of data.
Reflecting on what we’ve learned from our work with a wide range of organisations who are encountering AI technologies for the first time, there are certain leadership actions that stand some organisations apart from others that everyone should consider as they embark upon their AI journey.
This blog post focuses on the first of these leadership actions: deciding how you want to approach the subject of AI.
Are you prepared to stand at the sidelines waiting to engage? Do you want to go hard at automating your processes? Or are you going to take the time to understand how AI technologies might impact the communities you exist to serve, and explore opportunities to serve those communities in the multiple new ways that have now become possible?
There are three different approaches that we see organisations taking:
- The ‘not yet engaged’
- The treadmill runners
- The gardeners.
Which one are you at the moment? And where would you like to be?
- The ‘Not Yet Engaged’: Feeling lots of other pressures, not yet had the time or capacity to engage formally with AI
At one end of the spectrum, we have the “not yet engaged”. These are the organisations that are unaware of the scale of change, likely because they have too many other pressures, but in some cases because they have actively banned the use of AI.
This resistance can be dangerous because your staff are highly likely to be experimenting and without any rules or guidance, things can go horribly wrong, as Victoria’s Child Protection Agency found out.
Unengaged organisations risk falling so far behind that they’re not just missing opportunities and accumulating organisational risk, but are also failing to see new harms or, societal changes, or business trends.
2. The Treadmill Runners: Achieving the Same with Less
Next, we have the “treadmill runners”. These organisations recognise that AI has potential as a tool to automate processes, cut costs, and boost efficiency. But they’re focused on achieving the same outcomes with fewer, or more efficiently deployed resources. They’re getting leaner, but they’re not going to anywhere new.
Treadmill charities: might be using AI to automate administrative tasks or optimise donor management, or funding applications, but haven’t considered how AI could allow them to serve their communities in whole new ways, or how it is changing or could potentially be creating new harms for the communities they serve.”
If you’re a charity that supports people with subjects such as mental health, or community building, are you following the developments around Artificial Friends on Character.ai being used to re-create digital versions of young people who have taken their own life or been murdered?
Or if you work with people who are Dyslexic or Neurodivergent, have you seen how these technologies are quietly changing the lives of people who have discovered how to utilise AI technologies to overcome barriers?
Or if you support people to get into work, have you considered how the potentially significant disruption that is impacting the labour market?
You may be able to make your operations leaner with AI, but are you missing the potential harms or opportunities playing out for the communities that you serve?
3. The Gardeners: Cultivating Innovation and Growth
At the other end of the spectrum are the innovators—the “gardeners.” These organisations treat AI not as a means to an end but as a catalyst for change. They encourage internal innovation, planting and nurturing many seeds, while also taking time to understand how the climate is changing around them, and what that means for their organisation.
They recognise that AI has the potential to help them achieve more with the resources they already have, rather than seeking to reduce their headcount and costs through automation. And they recognise that it is likely to change things for the communities, clients, service users, staff and volunteers that they work with.
These organisations don’t just have a policy and do some staff training. They empower their teams to experiment safely with AI tools, fostering a culture where innovation is expected. They create spaces where employees and leaders can share ideas, explore new possibilities, discuss ethical concerns, and find unexpected ways to serve their customers or communities.
Don’t just take my word for it, Entrepreneurship, Innovation and AI Professor Ethan Mollick of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania describes exactly this in his Organisational Tactics blog.
They have guidelines and organisational structures in place to ensure that AI experimentation happens safely and ethically, and they’re open to rethinking their business models or service delivery in completely new ways.
And leadership teams are engaged in and leading the conversation, not just because they want to cut costs, but because they want to lead for change, and have a say in the safe and ethical use of AI technologies in their world
These charities and not-for-profits are looking at how AI could help them to personalise services for beneficiaries, reach more people, or explore new ways of fundraising. They’re also planning for how AI-related harms might impact the people that they exist to serve, adjusting their mission or purpose accordingly and advocating for positive change.
Let’s take a case study of a fictional organisation: a not-for-profit whose mission is to support people from an underrepresented background into jobs in a particular sector of the economy:
The ‘Not Yet engaged’ Response:
This organisation might ignore AI altogether, or worse, actively ban its use because they believe it’s too complicated, unnecessary, or risky. Their approach would continue to rely on traditional methods, such as standard CVs and manual job matching, even though those approaches may not scale or serve their community efficiently.
To get the ball rolling, organisations who find themselves here could start with a leadership exploration that we call ‘Why AI’, exploring how AI is changing the world, and what opportunities and risks that provides for their mission.
Coupling this with some simple training for their staff to get them ‘experimenting safely’ and a straightforward AI policy to guide staff in their experimentation.
The Treadmill Runner Response:
In this case, the organisation adopts AI tools to automate parts of their existing processes—using AI to help with basic administrative tasks like scheduling appointments or tracking job placements. They have implemented an AI-assisted application process, and their comms team are creating AI generated content. This helps them become more efficient and serve more people, while also reducing the need to increase headcount. They’re improving their operations but still doing the same things they’ve always done.
Unfortunately, despite them being far more effective at what they do, the situation for the community that they serve is getting worse, because some of the organisations in the sector they serve are using AI recruitment processes that result in unfair outcomes for the community the charity exists to serve.
While this charity could also benefit from our ‘Why AI’ session, our ‘Use Case identification’ workshops will help them to start from the problem that they’re trying to solve, and identify both how AI can help them to solve these problems, and where it might be exacerbating them.
The Gardener Response:
In this case, the charity is exploring how they can help their team to work co-intelligently with AI tools, freeing-up their time to prioritise more personalised support for each job seeker. They’re also exploring using AI-driven insights to match clients to job opportunities more effectively based on their unique skills and backgrounds and are showing job seekers how to use AI ethically themselves to bolster their job opportunities. They have a small internal innovation team exploring these opportunities, who have a clear set of ethical principles that they are working within.
They have used the staff time saved elsewhere to set up an new advocacy role, staying on top of external trends and monitoring how AI is being used in hiring practices, working with recruiters to ensure their clients aren’t disadvantaged by the use of biased algorithms and developing unbiased hiring procedures that they share with and promote to hiring organisations.
Like any good gardener, they know that growth doesn’t happen overnight—but with patience and care, it can transform the landscape.
So, where are you now? And crucially where do you want your organisation to be?
Is your organisation not yet engaged? You’re not alone, and we can help you to get your gardening kit on! Working in partnership, we specialise in helping leaders to get their charities and not-for-profits started on their AI journeys and put in place the cultures and creative thinking that will help you take full advantage.
Are you on a treadmill? We can help you to build from the great base that you have. We work with leadership teams to help organisations to explore the strategic implications of AI technologies, while also helping you to put in place the organisational structures that will spark innovation, enabling you to confidently manage the external change as well as the internal.
Are you already a gardener? Great job! We support plenty of ‘gardener’ organisations with creative innovation workshops and thought leadership for boards, governors and executives, as well as a great network that we can bring to bear to help you to scale your innovation.
Take the short ‘AI Personality quiz’ to find out where your organisation is on its AI journey.
Find out more about our specialist AI consultancy services and workshops for charities and not-for-profit organisations.
This blog is part of a wider blog series by Tim Cook: Tales from the Other AI Frontier.
