Governance, procurement and the frontline: seven takeaways on humanitarian AI from Geneva
AI is already in use across the humanitarian sector, often unapproved. Takeaways from our panel with Access Now and FilmAid Kenya on what governing it actually takes.
Made for the feed: how AI slop reshapes what we know
AI content is often not designed to deceive anyone – it’s designed to satisfy the recommender algorithms that decide what we see. Philip Di Salvo argues that ‘AI slop’ is reshaping the information ecosystem itself, with the sharpest consequences falling on those least able to be heard.
The infrastructure of trust: AI, information integrity and accountability in crisis
CDAC’s three workstreams – Community Engagement and Accountability, Information Integrity, and AI – are not three separate agendas. They are three aspects of the same underlying question that has always driven CDAC’s work: who has power over information, decisions and technology in crises?
Everyone’s problem, no one’s job: the humanitarian response to harmful information
The issue is no longer just the spread of false or manipulative information. It is that the entire architecture through which people encounter and interpret information is shifting at speed – and humanitarian institutions are struggling to keep pace.
CDAC Network joins International Association for Safe and Ethical AI (IASEAI)
CDAC Network has become an official Affiliate of the International Association for Safe and Ethical AI (IASEAI). Our Executive Director, Helen McElhinney, has been appointed to its inaugural Council, sitting on the Community Committee and chairing a Working Group on transparency the ‘right to know’.
Join CDAC Network and MERL Tech Initiative: accountability and AI in humanitarian action
Join us for this special CDAC Network Community of Practice on AI, co-hosted with the MERL Tech Initiative, on 6 August 2025. We will focus on how we ensure accountability is built into the growth of AI in the humanitarian sector.
CDAC Network launches SAFE AI project to establish responsible AI framework for humanitarians
The SAFE AI project focuses on creating clear governance guidelines, building tools to verify AI trustworthiness, ensuring affected communities have a meaningful voice, and working directly with humanitarian organisations to build solutions that address their actual needs.
Shift the power in humanitarian data: support the Data Values Advocates Program
The Data Values Advocates Program equips people, especially young people and those from underrepresented communities, with the skills and resources to advocate for equitable, community-centred data systems. Learn how you can get involved!
Join CDAC Network at the 2024 Public Forum – Data, power and participation: towards the ethical adoption of tech
This year’s Public Forum will ask: what could accountable AI design and governance look like? Who controls the data shaping humanitarian action? Whose ethics should guide the take-up of tech in conflicts and crises? What information and tools do crisis-affected communities need to play a central role in decision-making?
Why community engagement is the smart strategy for AI in humanitarian response
Watch the World Summit AI 2024 panel where CDAC’s Executive Director, Helen McElhinney, made the case for deeper community participation in the development and use of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in humanitarian settings.
New online course – Community crisis intelligence: elevating community voices with AI
CDAC Network is excited to announce the launch of a new online training course, designed to equip humanitarian professionals with the skills to harness the power of community intelligence and AI to deliver faster, better and more localised humanitarian responses.
What’s AI doing to information airways in conflict and crises?
Generative artificial intelligence is a new dimension to the old problem of disinformation. It has made the issue much more complicated, particularly for people affected by conflict and crises. How should humanitarians respond?
Is truth the first casualty? The role of communication in crisis and humanitarian action
Video and key takeaways from CDAC Network’s panel at Humanitarian Xchange 2024, featuring Ahmed Al Khameri (Chemonics), Annie Slemrod (The New Humanitarian), Meg Sattler (Ground Truth Solutions) and Stijn Aelbers (Internews).
The media development challenge: Antonio Zappulla, CEO of Thomson Reuters Foundation
Trust in the media, fake news, the data privacy, localisation, reforming capitalism and the future of media development organisations
Abhik Sen on innovation, government and data
What does innovation mean? Is the current focus on innovation in the humanitarian sector helpful? And where does this leave ideas and solutions that come from the Global South?