A Shifting Landscape for AI Regulation
The provision in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act to create a ten-year moratorium on state-level AI regulation never made it into the final law, but the picture of what future AI regulation or lack thereof might look like remains unclear.
Given this uncertainty, in the absence of government guardrails, individuals and organizations will have to decide for themselves how to use AI responsibly and in-line with their missions. In the absence of external rules and regulations to provide a framework for good behavior when it comes to AI, institutional and personal ethics play a vital role in ensuring that we use the technology responsibly.
AI Use Is a Certainty—Responsible Use Is the Challenge
The question isn’t whether we’ll use AI. Adoption is already widespread. It is how we’ll use it ethically.
Responsible AI adoption is human-centered and intentional. TAG’s “Responsible AI Adoption Framework” offers a practical compass. It structures decision making across three interwoven domains: organizational, ethical, and technical.
We know from our State of Philanthropy Tech Survey that while individual AI adoption has exploded in philanthropy, with 80% of respondents using AI, enterprise adoption has severely lagged. Additionally, only 30% of organizations have a formal AI policy in place.
This disconnect must be addressed. Not adopting AI responsibly holds back our potential, has financial implications and it may harm funders’ reputations, too.
Every Organization Needs an AI Policy
Every organization needs an AI policy that centers their values and creates clarity for staff about how AI can be used and how it shouldn’t. AI isn’t going away – we must reckon with that reality and understand how its implications will impact our work.
As we engage with AI and come to terms with its risks and opportunities, we will deepen our capacity to steward AI in ways that are accountable, fair, and centered on human dignity.
A Call to Action for the Sector
The sector must act. AI is here and it holds great promise to serve our aims. If used responsibly, AI can:
– Accelerate impact
– Unlock new ways to make progress happen
– Free teams from tedious work
– Uncover insight-rich patterns
In the absence of government oversight, our personal and organizational values are paramount in how we adopt and implement AI solutions. We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get it right.
If used wrongly, AI will exacerbate inequality and erode public trust, making it even harder to achieve our mission-centric goals to alleviate poverty, address climate change, improve educational outcomes, and more.
Funders must embrace the important role they can play to promote accountability, transparency, and justice in AI governance.
– Jean Westrick, TAG Executive Director