On May 30th, Imagine Canada hosted a panel discussion on the ethical considerations charities and nonprofits need to consider when embedding Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies within their organization. Panel participants included Keith Jansa (Digital Governance Council), Roger Ali (Imagine Canada Secretary and Governance & HR Committee Chair), Dan Kershaw (Furniture Bank), and Hilary Duffy (Sage). Meena Das (NamasteData) moderated the discussion.
Many organizations within the nonprofit and charitable sector are keen to implement AI technologies to solve problems and increase efficiency and productivity within their organization.
With the rapid proliferation of AI technologies and the federal government's announcement to invest $2.4 billion to deploy AI technologies in Canada, experts in the sector weighed in on the practical strategies for nonprofits to align AI utilization with organizational values and missions and outlined actionable steps for building expertise in AI ethics and governance within their organization.
Keith Jansa CEO of the Digital Governance Council started the conversation by stating that “while artificial intelligence can be used to improve social prosperity outcomes, organizations should first determine their core vision and outcomes they are looking to achieve when integrating this technology into their work processes. This should first be done through their executive leadership.” He added that once those key principles are determined they can be used as guiding rails when designing your policies and procedures.
According to Sage Canada, 35% of nonprofits say the biggest internal barrier facing their organization today is a lack of staff with the right skill set to manage their digital transformation journey.
In July of 2022, Furniture Bank started their The Picture Isn't Real. The reality is fundraising campaign which used AI to generate pictures of furniture poverty. To alleviate some of the fears surrounding how organizations can successfully implement AI technologies within their organization, Dan Kershaw CEO of Furniture Bank spoke about how his organization is using AI technologies and the guidelines in place concerning the use of AI technologies.
According to Kershaw, despite best practices encouraging users to implement policies surrounding the use of AI in their organization, there wasn’t a one-size-fits-all blueprint. As a result, Kershaw encouraged staff to be creative and learn as they go. Furniture Banks' guiding principles when using AI are transparency and accountability. Staff can not bring AI to work unless they are living those values.
As boards and organizations begin to think about how to embed AI into their organization, Jansa highlighted that organizations should ensure their AI governance policies are flexible and adaptive enough to keep up with the rapid advancements in AI technologies. Organizations need to do their due diligence and stay up to date with standards development activities taking place in Canada and abroad. In Canada, these initiatives include federal legislation such as Bill C-27, which will modernize Canada’s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and introduce new legislation to regulate the use of AI in Canada. It also includes Codes of Practice for generative AI systems, which ensure that developers, deployers, and operators of generative AI systems avoid harmful impacts, build trust in their systems, and transition smoothly to compliance with Canada’s forthcoming regulatory regime.
However, despite these regulatory advancements, Roger Ali and Keith Jansa stated organizations need to be proactive when selecting which AI technologies they want to embed in their organizations. Because there is no universal standard guiding the use of AI technologies. Where possible organizations should take into consideration the communities they serve and their expectations. Meena Das, CEO of NamasteData, warned that organizations should undergo an intentional evaluation of all AI technologies they are considering implementing within their organization to ensure they are not reproducing systemic barriers and inequalities in their organization as the use of AI will perpetuate those barriers.
Jansa provided the audience with some parting thoughts which encouraged organizations to come together and form a table that could work together to set potential norms for the sector at large.
This panel discussion is a part of a series at Imagine Canada which takes a deep dive into the world of AI and how it affects the nonprofit sector. Over the next few months, we will continue to cover AI-related topics such as cybersecurity, skills development & the labour force, data management and privacy.
Our next panel discussion will take place in the fall. Sign up for the Early Alert to find out the date.
As a reminder, Imagine Canada members can attend these events free of charge. Interested in becoming an Imagine Canada Member? Contact membership@imaginecanada.ca for more information.
