If you didn’t think you heard enough about AI, you’re about to hear more now. Earlier this month, I took the week off to attend New York Tech Week and Robin Hood’s Opportunity x AI summit, a conference which explored how AI could be used to tackle poverty. 

I don’t believe in AI replacing humans. I don’t think everything needs an AI solution. So, I sought to attend these events to prove to myself that there was value in AI, and specifically what it meant to adopt AI in tools for historically marginalized populations.

Below are some of my top takeaways from the week:

• Use AI like a bike, not a brain—aka make better and faster decisions, but don’t replace decision making with AI

Economist Sendhil Mullainathan gives this example: in a study of judges evaluating criminals, research results showed that judges often subconsciously used the chubbiness of a criminal’s face as well as whether they were well-groomed to determine whether the criminal should be pardoned. An algorithm that automated judges’ rulings based on past decisions would continue to retain that bias when pardoning criminals; an algorithm that helped judges find blind spots in their rulings could lead to more just decision making.

When we automate tasks or outsource our decision making to AI, the quality of its output is dependent on the humans who developed and prompted the algorithm. In other words, human performance is the ceiling.

On the other hand, when we use algorithms to check our biases or find trends, it supercharges our performance. There’s no longer a ceiling, because in this scenario the algorithms augment our skills rather than mirror them.

That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t automate tasks using AI. But we should use our judgment on which tasks we assign to AI and how we use its output.

• AI scenarios can mostly be grouped into five categories: answer and assist, automate admin tasks, create and communicate, sort and scan, learn and decide

Decoded Futures launched last year as a program that connects tech companies with social service nonprofits to amplify their impact using AI. What they found was that most nonprofits benefited most from using AI in the following ways:

1. Answer and assist: By creating a concierge bot that read and searched policy documents for information, a charter school organization was able to reduce the process of answering hundreds of compliance and regulation questions from hours to minutes.

2. Automate administrative tasks

3. Create and communicate: One nonprofit shared how they trained a GPT-powered tool on their successful grants to produce tailored responses to grant application questions, enabling them to complete and win a grant opportunity only six hours before the deadline.

4. Sort and scan: Collecting and analyzing surveys is taxing—not only can it be hard to keep track of trends in qualitative feedback, but looking purely at quantitative measures can also strip away important context. To solve this, one nonprofit created a custom GPT that summarized survey data to identify top insights on where their program was succeeding, where they could improve, and changes in feedback between each cohort.

5. Learn and decide

To learn more about how to enable these types of scenarios in your workflows, check out Decoded Future’s blog post.

• When it comes to integrating AI in products, user needs and trust remain at the forefront

CEO Jimmy Chen of Propel, an app used by 1 in 4 SNAP users to check their EBT balance and save money, stressed that the best use cases for AI are not always flashy. Just like any other feature we build, we need to think through the customer pain point and evaluate AI alongside other approaches to implement a solution.

As an example, Propel built a tool to allow users to take a picture of their groceries to confirm whether it’s eligible for SNAP. SNAP policies are constantly changing, and using AI simplifies the process of determining what items are eligible.

Chen also stressed the importance of maintaining user trust when using AI, particularly because these tools have the potential of producing harm when not holistically tested. He shared that Propel launches their features in 3 stages: (1) to a group of 10-20 people to capture the most common issues (2) to 1000 people to broaden their test cases to more niche scenarios and finally (3) to all users.

How do you use AI in your work? And do you see your use cases evolving over time?

Opportunities

• Lulo is seeking a lead engineer/ CTO to help with their mission of turning the $1 billion in unredeemed WIC benefits into food on families' tables. Learn more and apply.

• Holly creates AI tools to cut government job description creation from hours to minutes. They’re hiring a GTM manager and senior software engineer.

• Recidiviz is building tools to help states reduce incarceration safely, equitably, and at scale. They’re hiring a product growth lead, senior product manager, tech lead manager, and multiple state partnerships managers. Learn more and apply. 

• Housing Connector is a tech-for-good nonprofit that increases access to housing for individuals most in need. They’re hiring for a senior software engineer.

• Column Tax is a Series A-backed startup focused on building the next generation of tax software for the 3/4 of Americans don’t have access to any financial or tax advice. They’re seeking software engineers, an experienced product manager, and a founding enterprise sales role. Learn more and apply.

• Want to help the government deliver critical services? US Digital Response is looking for volunteers. They’re seeking people of all backgrounds!

• Passionate about using AI? Volunteer with Decoded Futures and partner with nonprofits to integrate AI into their workflows.

• Got a job or funding opportunity you want to share? Reply back and I’ll add it to the next email.

Upcoming events

• [NYC] June 26, 7-8:30 pm EST - Join Justice Through Code for their Flagship Graduation Showcase, where Fellows will debut four AI-powered tools integrated into Bloom Housing—one of the nation's leading affordable housing platforms used by cities across the country. RSVP here.

• [VIRTUAL] July 11, 12-1 pm EST – Founder Friday, Ventures for Justice: Founders Building Beyond the System: In this session, Robin Hood spotlights innovators who are building solutions that confront systemic inequities, reduce recidivism, and restore dignity in the criminal justice system. RSVP here.

• [NYC] July 24 - Friends of BRL Happy Hour: Join the Blue Ridge Labs community for an evening of catching up and drinks RSVP here.

• Have an event you’d like to promote? Reply back and I’ll add it to the next email.