Civil Society in the Age of Automation: Understanding the Benefits and Risks of Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Bots

Publication Date: November 2018

Authors: Beth Kanter and Allison Fine

Publisher: Toda Peace Institute and Alliance for Peacebuilding

The next wave of disruptive technology has arrived; it is the Age of Automation. The defining technologies for this new era include robots, chatbots, artificial intelligence, machine learning, conversational interfaces, cyborgs, and other smart devices.

Civil society organizations should not view these technologies as a smackdown between flesh and code, but as a partnership to better address development needs. Civil society can play a key role in addressing the risks posed by A.I., especially for marginalized people and communities who will feel the brunt of any negative impact. However, to reap the benefits for civil society, design and implementation must have a human-centered orientation, scale beyond the innovation of data or units to entire enterprise and maintain the highest ethical standards to avoid devastating unintended consequences.

About the Authors:

Beth Kanter was named one of the most influential women in technology by Fast Company and is an internationally acclaimed master trainer, blogger, and speaker. She coauthored The Networked Nonprofit with Allison Fine, and her most recent book is The Happy Healthy Nonprofit: Strategies for Impact without Burnout

Allison Fine is among the nation’s pre-eminent thinkers and strategists on networked leadership and online activism. She is the author of Matterness: Fearless Leadership for a Social World, the award-winning Momentum: Igniting Social Change in the Connected Age, and co-author of The Networked Nonprofit. She serves on the boards of NARAL: Pro Choice America Foundation and Civic Hall Labs.