The Fundraising Regulator must prepare for challenges posed by the misuse of artificial intelligence in fundraising, its chief executive has warned.
Speaking at a question and answer panel discussion at the regulator’s annual event yesterday, held at the British Museum in London, Gerald Oppenheim said: “Inevitably, with the advent of all these new technological advances, there will be a number of individuals who will seek to misuse this.”
Keiron James, a trustee at the regulator, added that there was a danger of new technologies being used to mislead the public to think that these individuals were fundraising on behalf of charities when they were not, pointing to AI-generated images as an example.
Oppenheim said: “There are going to be some challenges, I think, around spotting those bad actors. And that’s important – both in terms of maintaining public trust and confidence in the way that charities fundraise and for charities themselves, because they won’t want to be spoofed in any way that detracts from the fundraising they’re doing.”
Lord Harris of Haringey, chair of the regulator, added that the watchdog must stay “abreast and aware of” the ethical concerns about AI-generated content and maintain a dialogue with the sector in relation to how charities are planning to use this technology.
Suzanne McCarthy, chair of the regulator’s standards committee, said the regulator’s recent consultation on its review of the Code of Fundraising Practice asked some general questions about technological advancements such as AI.
She said a principles-based code provided more flexibility to handle these developments without the need for new consultation or codes to be added.
McCarthy said: “But the important thing, which the Fundraising Regulator is very serious about, is including guidance.
“AI is a type of fundraising so other codes will obviously be able to cover it, but it may be helpful to have specific guidance on it.”
When asked whether the regulator would explore ways that AI and changing technologies could improve its own operations, James said: “Yes, in answer. We are looking at how we can deploy machine learning to better inform decision-making within the regulator, support the work of the regulator and charities as well.”
Panellists also discussed the potential impact of the upcoming general election on fundraising, when asked whether the election outcome may alter the fundraising environment for charities.
Harris said the voluntary sector’s financial position was unlikely to change for a “long time” and that technological advancements would continue.
He said: “What I do hope is that when the dust settles after the forthcoming election, there will be generally a more positive attitude towards the role of the charitable sector, but also one which doesn’t make assumptions as to what they can and can’t do.”
Harris said one of the difficulties that had affected the regulator’s work recently is that “complaints have been generated about charities because of people disagreeing with something that the charity is doing, not with the substance of what is being done or how it is being done”.
He said the regulator had to spend lots of time identifying whether there was any substance to complaints of this nature.
“I hope we can get back to a situation where charitable endeavour is seen as non-political itself,” Harris said.