Artificial Intelligence Use By Charities

A hot topic at the moment with the relatively new launch of platforms such as Chat GPT is the use of Artificial Intelligence. There is no doubt that when used properly and responsibly it can provide many benefits for businesses and charities, such as assisting with bid writing, writing of promotional material, etc.

Risks involved in utilising AI

It is, however, important to realise that this technology is in its infancy and is far from perfect. There are very few safeguards in place in respect of ensuring that the content produced does not infringe any third-party intellectual property, is not defamatory of third parties or even inaccurate.

By way of example as to the potential risks involved in using Artificial Intelligence as a substitute for proper professional advice, there was a recent case where Chat GPT created entirely fictitious legal case names when asked by a litigant in person to assist with a forthcoming trial. That individual, after deploying the fictitious case law in Court, was lucky not to be held in contempt of Court. That case is discussed further in our previous blog.

This position is exacerbated further by the fact that currently there is no mechanism to hold a machine liable for wrongdoing. You may think that it is obvious that the creator of the programme should be liable for the actions of its creation but that does not necessarily follow. If the creator of the programme makes it clear that the programme is not infallible, they accept no responsibility for any infringement of intellectual property, defamatory comments or inaccuracies and state that the user uses the programme at their own risk, it is difficult to see how the creator of the programme could be held liable.

It is therefore entirely possible that a careless user who does not fact-check the content of a piece written by Artificial Intelligence could find themselves on the receiving end of a civil lawsuit or worse, accused of criminal conduct.

The temptation for trustees of charities to seek to save costs for the charity by the use of Artificial Intelligence is obvious. Trustees should however be aware that they owe fiduciary duties to the charity to which they are trustees, which would include acting in the best interests of the charity and its beneficiaries. Plainly carelessly or recklessly using Artificial Intelligence without fact checking the content and/or seeking proper advice in the circumstances resulting in a costly lawsuit is unlikely to be in line with such duties.

In addition to the above, charities and their trustees should always have in mind their data protection obligations. Before uploading any personal data protected by the data protection legislation, trustees and/or employees of charities should ensure that they are familiar with the data protection safeguards in place on the platform that they intend to use and that those safeguards comply fully with the data protection legislation in England and Wales and that they have complied with their obligations in that regard as to how they can use an individual’s data.

By way of example, if data is collected from individuals who donate money to the charity and they consent to their data being retained for the purposes of the charity providing updates on the charity’s progress, this consent would not extend to the charity being able to use the data for any other purpose including sharing the information with a third-party Artificial Intelligence platform.

Charities intending to use Artificial Intelligence to assist in their function should therefore ensure that any data protection consent forms are updated so that fully informed consent is provided by individuals sharing their data with the charity. This position is even more important where the charity collects data in respect of their beneficiaries that are vulnerable, such as children or those with serious medical conditions. This is an important consideration as the Information Commissioners Office can levy large fines for breaching data protection legislation and further individuals by a data breach affected can seek compensation for a data breach.

The Charity Commission has noted the use of Artificial Intelligence by Charities as both a potential asset but also a risk in its recent blog, which can be read here. The Commission has however indicated that it is not intending to issue further guidance on the use of Artificial Intelligence and accordingly trustees/those in charge of charities should ensure that they have fully considered the position and sought appropriate advice without delay.

Comment

Now that Artificial Intelligence has entered our world, there is no doubt that it will be here to stay. The laws that exist at present are not developed in this area at all and accordingly there is likely to be a significant amount of legislation and case law around the issue over the coming years.

Charities should therefore be very careful when using Artificial Intelligence as they will not want to be involved in an expensive test case. In this regard, charities should ensure that they have appropriate policies in place in respect of the use of Artificial Intelligence and that their staff and trustees are adequately trained on what is acceptable use or not.