Annenberg Foundation

How should values drive your AI Policy in #philanthropy? Before we walk too far down the road of policy development and #AI adoption at the Annenberg Foundation, we paused to ground ourselves in the principles of responsible AI. We wanted to ensure that all voices were working together and included in translating these principles across the foundation. To gather input, we invited all staff to participate in an online brainstorming activity we conducted with our AI Strategy Resident, Chantal Forster. If you'd like to try something similar, here was our approach: ◼️ Created a Mural brainstorming board (https://mural.co/) ◼️ Seeded the board with widely accepted AI principles such as those by NIST (https://lnkd.in/gvDdW-Bf)  ◼️ Held a 20 minute “pop-up breakfast” to build out the board together with staff, translating AI principles to align with our values ◼️ Recorded the exercise via Zoom to create the video you see here ◼️ For anyone who missed the activity, we sent a participation link afterwards to capture additional thoughts All voices matter as we navigate the responsible use of AI internally as well as externally with our nonprofit partners. The perspectives shared in this exercise will directly inform the Data Use Policy we aim to adopt later this month. #AIinPhilanthropy #PhilanthropyTech #ResponsibleAI #Annenberg #Philanthropy #PhilanthropyForward

As we begin another week of learnings on AI and Philanthropy at @Annenberg Foundation, our newly formed the Annenberg AI task force is at work with research, experiments, coordination, and learnings on how AI might provide an important and impactful boost at Annenberg and across the philanthropic sector.   Part of our introductory work includes tracking closely the rapid developments in #AI and monitoring and working with other professionals to better understand the potential as well as the pitfalls of adopting new advanced technologies in our workplace. This “all in this together” approach enables us to hopefully learn best practices from each other. So, in the spirit of sharing:   We appreciate the leadership and the following declaration from foundation CEO @Katy Knight, President of the @Siegel Family Endowment, which supports organizations working at the intersections of learning, workforce, and infrastructure: “In a moment when research suggests that more than two-thirds of parents believe the benefits either equal or potentially outweigh the drawbacks and 72% of students want guidance on how to responsibly use generative AI for schoolwork, we should be wrestling with not whether but how technology can play a role in preparing young people for an increasingly dynamic world.”  - Katy Knight, Executive Director and President of Siegel Family Endowment (https://lnkd.in/gVNXAbz6)   #AIinPhilanthropy #PhilanthropyTech #ResponsibleAI #Annenberg #Philanthropy #PhilanthropyForward    

Beyond philosophy, HOW do #grantmakers grapple responsibly with #AI? As you heard Monday from Executive Director Cinny Kennard, the Annenberg Foundation will be sharing our journey with artificial intelligence (AI) over the next few months as we work together on strategies, challenges, and lessons learned. So here’s where we’ve started…. Step One: Listening A vital starting point for my work as Annenberg AI Strategy Resident has been listening sessions with members of the staff who know their own work better than anyone. Instead of asking, “how could you use AI?” we explored the nature of their work and the ways it could be improved with (or without) AI. This step is vital as it ensures our use of AI addresses real challenges and leverages opportunities aligned with the work people do every day to deliver on Annenberg’s mission. Here's what this step yielded: ◼️ A catalogue of potential use cases for AI to seed our list of possible internal pilot projects ◼️ Internal champions that now represent a Foundation AI steering committee ◼️ Baseline for the current state of innovation culture ◼️ Incidental areas of need for Foundation Operations and IT ◼️ Potential strategic external initiatives related to AI Beyond listening, what have we accomplished so far? Though we’re only 1+ month into my 6-month residency, I’m grateful for the team’s progress thanks to the efforts of the AI Working Group shown here. To date, we have: ◼️ Launched our four-month internal Foundation "lunch and learn" series  ◼️ Engaged all Foundation staff in an interactive exercise on our values for responsible AI adoption ◼️ Drafted proposed recommendations for AI internal pilots, external strategic initiatives, and more ◼️ Drafted a proposed Foundation data governance policy which includes AI alongside org-wide use of data ◼️ Drafted and launched a grantee outreach plan to understand needs and preferences related to AI I'm honored and thrilled to be entrusted with helping to inform this work at the Annenberg Foundation and grateful to peers in the #philanthropytech community who are navigating at their own organizations. Together, we are building a more effective social sector equipped to deliver on the promise of thriving and equitable communities. Over the next few months, you’ll hear from Cinny Kennard, Foundation Sr. Director of Operations and Strategy Allison Holmes, Program Officer Nicole Smith, and me as we share our pilots, pivots, and lessons learned. There is much to be learned on this journey! #AIinPhilanthropy #ResponsibleAI #Annenberg #PhilanthropyForward

Today, I remain privileged to be able to lead a great American family Foundation – The Annenberg Foundation – whose Chair and Board members are firmly committed to addressing and responding to the critical issues of our time. One of those issues is Artificial Intelligence (AI) and as it becomes an ever more present tool in all walks of our lives, we want to first ensure we are harnessing the potential and addressing concerns in our own Foundation operations. What is a smart and impactful institutional stance? What about data governance including policies and even guardrails, what are the opportunities to pursue, and what are the principles of the Foundation’s engagement? We feel a deep responsibility to be sure that we are using AI at Annenberg to best advance the goals of the philanthropic work. Thus, we are bringing aboard AI Strategist Chantal Forster for an “AI in Residence Program” at Annenberg to further explore AI’s possibilities and limitations as we strive to ensure equitable access and opportunity (https://lnkd.in/gBEf2_KU). Each week, through this learning journey we will share some of our findings on LinkedIn. We don’t know what we will find – but we will first seek to coordinate our AI efforts internally and then hopefully export what we find externally. By sharing our journey openly – our strategies, challenges, and lessons learned – we aim to foster dialogue so we can learn from each other about standards for responsible AI implementation in the social sector. Our updates are intended to provide insights that we hope will help inspire our philanthropic partners on how AI might responsibly advance their own work (and where it will not), fostering a culture of collaborative learning and innovation in civil society. Join us as we take this AI and Philanthropy journey together! #AIinPhilanthropy #PhilanthropyTech #ResponsibleAI #Annenberg #Philanthropy #PhilanthropyForward