In this case study, we’ll share how long-time PJMF partner, Conservation International, built organizational readiness with their global team of over 1,600 employees.
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AI Journey Phase: Curiosity
Module: Organizational Readiness
About Conservation International:
Domain: Climate
Organization Size: 500+
Region: Global
Website: www.conservation.org
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Conservation International has been supporting communities to sustainably care for nature for nearly four decades. Combining fieldwork with innovations in science, policy, and finance, they have been driving conservation efforts to protect more than 13 million square kilometers of land and sea across more than 70 countries.
Artificial intelligence was not a new term for many at the organization when ChatGPT began taking the world by storm. For many years, the organization had been advancing individual projects that utilized AI, primarily by applying deep learning techniques to large data sets. For instance, Conservation International co-led the development of Wildlife Insights, an AI-based tool for managing, analyzing, and sharing camera trap data that has since spun off into its own organization. Conservation International has also used AI to identify potential implementation sites for conservation interventions, such as Climate Smart Shrimp. While these efforts saw success, they emerged independently, without a unified strategy to guide how AI could support the organization’s global work.
When generative AI began hitting the global stage, the organization knew it was time to develop a more holistic vision for how it should leverage this technology for maximum effectiveness and impact. As Conservation International began leaning in, it quickly recognized two interrelated dimensions it needed to consider: the internal dimension focused on how this technology can improve efficiency, internal systems, and processes and an external dimension focused on accelerating its work and achieving greater impact at scale.
Strategically, this meant Conservation International needed to:
To address these needs, Conservation International embarked on a multifaceted approach that both leverages and generates momentum throughout the organization. This multi-step effort is building Conservation International’s internal capacity to not only establish guardrails, understand risks, and identify opportunities, but also to take action and more fully harness AI’s potential in conservation.
As we take a deep dive into each of these activities, we invite you to keep in mind that there’s no “one size fits all” when it comes to building organizational readiness. Each organization must find the approach that works best for their team, which may differ depending on size, domain, organizational structure, culture, and more. By learning more about Conservation International’s approach, we hope you’ll gain inspiration for how you might go about building organizational readiness at your own organization.
As Conservation International began its organizational readiness efforts, one of the first actions they took was building a working group, a cross-functional team to advise and develop their internal perspective of how the organization should be thinking about AI. This group is co-led by one person each from the Betty and Gordon Moore Center for Science and Solutions, a research hub within Conservation International, and from IT to ensure balance between the technology and conservation dimensions of their work. It also includes representation from other teams including legal, science, data analytics, and programmatic experts. This group focused initially on establishing a Conservation International AI policy to mitigate risks and is now focusing on identifying and responding to opportunities for AI innovation.
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💡KEY LEARNING
For global organizations, it is imperative to consider the diversity of perspectives, lived experiences, practical constraints, etc. of your global teams and the communities you serve when putting together your working group. This ensures you are building a holistic picture of the opportunities and challenges of applying AI.
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One of the early steps taken by the AI Working Group was to conduct an AI readiness assessment, using a framework developed by the Innovation for Impact Network, a coalition of nonprofits working to strengthen innovation in the sector. This assessment helped give clarity on some specific areas for improvement, such as strengthening governance, having clear internal points of contact that employees can reach out to with questions about AI efforts, and building staff fluency.
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💡KEY LEARNING
It is important to take the time to understand your strengths and areas for improvement so that you can target your limited efforts and resources where they are needed most. The most pressing needs are not necessarily the ones you might expect.
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Another initial effort of the working group was to develop an organizational policy to establish basic guardrails for responsible AI use. The policy and guidelines highlighted AI limitations and risks, such as hallucinations, bias, data protections, and possible copyright infringement so that Conservation International staff could – by understanding risks and pitfalls – responsibly and safely explore AI capabilities. The policy they developed is one that takes into account the evolving nature of the technology and is reviewed and updated annually.