By Dr. Liz Shay, Senior Grants Development Consultant
Artificial intelligence (AI) is a popular topic right now. AI tools have the potential to help organizations manage and analyze massive amounts of data to assist services and decision-making. The Stanford 2024 Artificial Intelligence Index (https://aiindex.stanford.edu/report/) notes that 55% of organizations now use AI in at least one business unit or function. The report also states that AI enables workers to complete tasks with higher quality and faster completion times. The Booz Allen Hamiton 2023 Velocity report (https://www.boozallen.com/insights/velocity.html) found that two-thirds of federal technology leaders believe AI will largely impact how missions are executed over the next several years.
All these findings suggest that AI will be a critical component of public sector and non-profit operations. Many entities are already considering the implementation of AI tools. However, high costs can be a roadblock for organizations eager to pursue these types of projects. Grant funding is a potential approach to help public sector and non-profit organizations with AI tool initiatives.
Grant-Seeking for AI Tools
Grantmakers are typically interested in supporting comprehensive projects, rather than focusing on implementing a specific technology solution, such as an AI tool. When seeking funding, think about the problem the implementation of a specific AI technology of interest can solve. Grantmakers are mainly interested in mission-driven activities over back-office functions, so AI tools that will positively impact your organization’s target population (students, residents, patients, etc.) are the most likely to be successful parts of a grant-funded project.
As you evaluate the potential problems that can be solved by implementing an AI tool, consider the larger context of your project. Below are some examples of grant-fundable projects that incorporate AI tools as part of a larger comprehensive project. Use these as inspiration to consider your own organization’s mission-driven needs and goals and how AI tools can help with these initiatives.
Examples:
- Education: AI tools are available to analyze student data to find patterns in grades, behavioral incidents, and other factors. These tools could enable early intervention to help with student success and retention. This solution could be part of a larger comprehensive grant-fundable project that focuses on helping underrepresented student groups succeed in their education. The AI tool can help determine who would most benefit from intervention and the remainder of the project can provide those student support services (such as tutoring, career counseling, accommodations, etc. as appropriate) based on these identifications.
- Research: Pattern finding is vital to scientific data analysis. AI tools can analyze large brain data sets to find patterns. This will allow research to identify brain regions that tend to fire together to particular types of stimuli. This AI-enabled pattern-finding can be part of a larger grant-fundable project that explores how different categories of viewed images relate to brain activity patterns to help researchers understand the function of various brain regions.
- Public Safety: Like in other domains, public safety agencies have a large amount of data they can potentially utilize. AI tools can analyze multiple data sources to find areas of a community that are most likely to have crimes occur. This identification process can help agencies effectively deploy limited resources. A potential grant-fundable project would be one where one or more agencies develop integrated analysis systems that consider multiple data sources (such as shot spotters, cameras, traffic patterns, etc.) to determine where to deploy resources in a predictive policing design. Other aspects of the project would include training officers and leadership on appropriate ways to effectively utilize this data and where biases may exist that they should consider as they work.
- Transportation: AI tools are available to analyze traffic across a variety of metrics (volume, locations, pedestrians, etc.). Understanding these patterns can help transportation organizations identify bottlenecks and areas at high risk for traffic-related accidents. These agencies could create a grant-fundable project that develops a smart transportation system that dynamically updates based on current traffic patterns and volume, as determined by an AI tool. The project can also include the implementation of signals, monitors, and other technology to enable the data collection and processing and the real-time updating of alternating lanes, communication systems, and other essential components to minimize potential traffic problems.
- Healthcare: Pattern finding inpatient imaging can help to identify abnormal findings. AI tools can assist with this diagnostic component, enabling early detection and better treatment plans. Hospitals and clinics can utilize these tools as part of larger grant-fundable projects incorporating patient imaging and processing (including AI tools) paired with doctor-designed interventions to improve patient care. This approach can be particularly powerful for supporting underserved communities where specialists are limited.
Next Steps for Pursuing Funding for AI Tools
AI is a central topic in news and discourse so it can be tempting to incorporate AI tools into every part of your organization. Start instead by focusing on your organizational needs. Where are you currently facing challenges? Often AI tools can be most helpful in cases where you have copious amounts of data that are difficult to analyze manually. Consider if there are AI tools that could assist with this problem. Also consider the broader landscape of the mission-driven activities you are working on and how the AI tool can help your organization serve your target population (students, residents, patients, etc.). Grantmakers are interested in supporting these mission-driven initiatives that can work towards solving challenges, and AI tools can be part of those larger comprehensive projects. Focus on the grants that support this larger social driver, and then you can implement grant-fundable projects that include AI tools and other organizational activities.