Module 9 – Inclusive Technology and Responsible Innovation
Artificial intelligence is increasingly becoming part of the tools people use to work, communicate, analyse information, and make decisions.
For social entrepreneurs, AI can create practical opportunities. It can help with tasks such as researching and summarising information, generating and refining ideas, drafting communications, analysing data, automating routine work, or identifying patterns that might otherwise be difficult to see.
But using AI effectively also requires judgement. AI-generated information can be inaccurate or misleading, and AI systems can reproduce biases present in the data and assumptions on which they are built. Using AI can also create privacy and confidentiality risks, particularly when personal or sensitive information is entered into external tools.
Before using AI, consider:
Purpose: What are you using AI for, and does it genuinely improve the task or solution?
Accuracy: How will you check whether the information or output is reliable?
Bias: Could the output reflect or reinforce existing biases?
Privacy: Are you sharing personal, confidential, or sensitive information?
Impact: Who could be affected if the AI produces an incorrect or unfair result?
Human judgement: Where is human review or decision-making still essential?
The level of caution should reflect the potential consequences. Using AI to brainstorm ideas is very different from relying on an automated system to make decisions that affect someone's access to a service, opportunity, or resource.
AI can be a valuable tool for social entrepreneurs, but responsibility remains with the people choosing how and where it is used.