Scared but ready – our approach to generative AI

Like many organisations in the charity sector, Children in Scotland has been cautiously exploring generative AI and developing an approach to help staff working across the organisation to assess the costs and benefits of using AI tools.

Here, our Chief Executive, Dr Judith Turbyne, discusses how the organisation - while remaining vigilant to potential risks - is ‘cautiously embracing’ the opportunities of AI. 

AI is causing a bit of perturbation in the charity sector. Many of the feelings I see expressed are those of trepidation and fear. There is a lot of worry about what it might mean for jobs, for society, for fairness and equality. However, in a few pockets there is a level of interest in the power it has and how it might help us in our work.   

As an organisation we started by listening to one of our members of staff who was actively curious about the subject. Robert, who works with our Enquire service, came to an all-staff meeting. He shared some learning he had received and his reflections on the same. It was a positive start to a bit of a journey for us. We did some collective reflection with all the staff, with the leadership team and with the board. We also leaned heavily on the work of the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations who have been doing a lot of leadership in this area.  

As a result, I have drafted an initial policy for us. It was actually quite difficult to do. Everything is moving so fast, and we don’t have a great deal of organisational experience on the subject. And so, the decision was made to do a very high-level policy that we would develop over time as we started to implement our approach and to learn from that experience.  

What is fundamental to us is the understanding that it is our skilled and committed workforce that sit at the heart of our organisation. The use of AI needs to enhance their experience, and lighten their load, not undermine them and the important way they contribute to the creativity and development of the organisation as a whole. 

So, we will cautiously embrace it but ensure that we are bearing in mind all the potential risks that come with it.  

Perhaps one of the most important of these is the way that it could potentially further embed bias that is knitted into data sets. It is also crucial that we take into account the almost ‘hidden’ climate impacts that are inherent in AI use. And as the creators of content, we need to be constantly questioning the issues of copyright and ownership of original images and text. 

Whenever an individual in Children in Scotland is thinking about using an AI tool, then we are asking them to consider the potential costs against the benefits for their work. Where they consider, for instance, that the potential risk of bias is too high because of the subject area, then we would suggest not using the tool. When there is a clear benefit for the work, then to go ahead.  

Ultimately, we are asking staff at every stage to be vigilant. If someone uses an AI tool in even a minimal way to help create content, then there needs to be a really good checking of the outputs, making sure that the author is confident that the tool has not materially affected the output in a negative way. The individual needs to always remain in the control of their work. 

We will set up a real time learning channel in Teams to allow us to capture the thoughts and experiences of those using any tools. Six months into the implementation of the policy, we will have a review session in order to think through how it is going, and to see if there are more specific areas of guidance we can develop for our staff. 

We also want to be very transparent about our use of AI, so where there has been a significant input from an AI tool into a public facing piece of work, we will reference that. 

After our first six months review, I will report back on where we are up to.  

Deep breath, here we go.