Recently, a community member reached out with important concerns about our use of generative AI in our new effort called CivicPulse — specifically around its environmental impact, bias, and the integrity of AI-generated content. We’re deeply grateful for their thoughtful message and want to respond with transparency and care.

At Center for Neighborhoods, our values are rooted in being people-centered, place-based, asset-based, equitable, collaborative, sustainable, and grounded in integrity. These aren’t just words — they guide how we present ourselves in community and how we select the tools we use.

We utilized AI to help summarize public documents, such as city budgets, with the goal of making information more accessible to more of our neighbors. But we acknowledge that even helpful tools can have unintended consequences, including the environmental cost of data centers and the risk of bias in AI-generated outputs.  

In weighing the goal of collaboratively increasing access to complex public documents for residents, especially those without the time or resources to comb through hundreds of pages of technical material against environmental cost, we think the overall value is going to be worth it.

We’re learning. We’re listening. And weighing “unintended consequences” as they arise against our goal of digital inclusivity. At this time we are carefully analyzing what the usage and cost of efforts are — it’s still a black box. We’re committed to re-evaluating our digital practices to ensure they reflect our values and our community’s expectations.

If you’ve been thinking about AI in nonprofit work — the risks, the potential, the trade-offs — we’d love to hear your thoughts. Let’s keep building a future that’s not just innovative, but equitable and sustainable for all.

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