NetHopeOrg 11d ago

Generative AI has been in the mainstream since November 2022, but at this point, we see that AI adoption in humanitarian organizations is being driven primarily by austerity rather than ambition - a coping mechanism for doing more with less, rather than a deliberate strategic choice. Staff are experimenting with AI tools, often informally and ahead of institutional guidance, while organizations struggle to translate that experimentation into governed, scalable, and equitable practice. Governance frameworks are consolidating but unevenly; corporate technology partnerships are filling capacity gaps while creating dependency risks; and the efficiencies being realized remain largely personal rather than institutional. The sector is adapting to AI; it has not yet adopted it strategically. Elrha and NetHope have partnered in the Advance Responsible AI Adoption project to explore what is needed to deliver impact and operational efficiency at scale through AI. This work connects directly to our AI Lighthouse initiative. Through a scoping study conducted with the Civic Machines Lab at TUM Think Tank, we have explored which sector-wide, practitioner-oriented enabling mechanisms are needed to support the responsible, effective, and equitable adoption of AI across humanitarian organizations (access the study here). In this panel, we bring these findings together to explore existing gaps in capacity and governance, and discuss what is needed to close them. In this video you'll: - understand what the key blockers are on the path to scaling AI - learn how some organizations are closing that gap - discuss what collective action is needed to create impact through AI at scale for the whole sector