Artificial Intelligence and Philanthropy: The Cybernetics of Philanthropy from 1974 to 2024

OpenAI, creator of ChatGPT, was founded as a nonprofit with a mission of ensuring that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity. AI, therefore, was intended to advance the common good, sharing an underlying principle with philanthropy and the nonprofit organizations it supports. However, this was not the first association of machine learning with philanthropy, particularly in terms of algorithms designed for control versus those aimed at doing good. In 1974, a white paper by Heinz Von Foerster, a polymath scientist who happened to be president of an important foundation, considered the potential of computer-based feedback systems to improve “giving with a purpose.” A review of his paper served as the impetus for this essay, which explores the antecedents of contemporary predictions regarding the potential of AI to enhance the practice of philanthropy.