Cutting Through the Noise: Reimagining Tech for Good The term “Tech for Good” has been in use for over a decade. At its core, the movement rests on the idea that governments and nonprofits—institutions explicitly charged with advancing social outcomes—c...

I worry that as the social sector builds beneficial AI products, it gets crushed on scale. More in a new blog:

www.cgdev.org/blog/cutting...

A Roadmap for AI That Speaks the World’s Languages For AI to benefit all people, it will need to speak their languages and understand their worlds. AI works well in English, French, Spanish, Hindi, Chinese—but that leaves 4 billion people whose native...

New blogpost on thinking about the AI language problem as a market design problem

www.cgdev.org/blog/roadmap...

My very first podcast...luckily I had great, thoughtful and eloquent guests in Temina Madon and @hanshengchia.bsky.social!

Temina, Markus, and I talk AI and development on this new podcast CGD

"We need to evaluate the specific behaviors our AI applications are designed to exhibit...then we can make claims about which actually led to better outcomes."

@hanshengchia.bsky.social emphasizes the need for precise, ongoing evaluation of AI tools. Full remarks:
https://bit.ly/42EF4VD

Alongside this year's #AnnualMeetings, experts are convening at CGD to unpack novel AI approaches and why they matter for policymakers.

With: @hanshengchia.bsky.social, Rebecca Sharp, Temina Madon, Gabriel Demombynes, and @markusgold.bsky.social.

Happening Oct. 14—join us:
https://bit.ly/42m2Vcl

There’s no consensus yet on what “good evaluation” means for AI-enabled interventions.

To help raise the quality of evaluations, @hanshengchia.bsky.social & fellow experts propose 4 key investments, from setting standards to funding research to push the frontier:
https://bit.ly/4n1Uxat

It's his imagination and we're just lucky to be living in it.

SecState Rubio claims that no on has died because of USAID cuts and suggested that I had lied in my reporting. So here I show him photos of specific children who have died because of the Trump administration's reckless cancelation of aid: www.nytimes.com/2025/05/31/o...

Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: AI for Good? Evaluating the Impact of AI in Development. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webinar. Organisations looking to use AI for development are concerned about the potential for errors and biases when using AI in high-stakes situations. In this webinar, a collaboration with the Center for G...

📅 On June 12, join @hanshengchia.bsky.social, Samantha Carter, & Farhan Abrol for a @voxdev.bsky.social event exploring the potential applications of AI. W/ @cgdev.org, @j-pal.bsky.social & @agencyfund.bsky.social.

Register! ⬇️
cepr-org.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Cutting Through the Noise: Powering the Next Generation of Government Portals with Generative AI Artificial intelligence (AI)-powered development interventions are growing, with over 100 global health and 150 education AI projects delivering direct services in low- and middle-income countries (LM...

AI-powered development interventions are growing in many areas, but underused.

@hanshengchia.bsky.social, Surbhi Bharadwaj, & Christine Hwang urge governments to explore the potential of AI to transform e-portals & improve citizen access to digital public services:
www.cgdev.org/blog/cutting...

Cutting through the Noise: Identifying Smart Bets in AI Applications for Development There are more than 450 AI applications targeting health or education outcomes in low- and middle-income countries, but not every application will prove cost-effective. How can the development sector ...

AI is advancing fast, but evidence on what works for dev. is still emerging.

@hanshengchia.bsky.social & @markusgold.bsky.social propose a 3-part framework to guide smart AI investments:

1️⃣ Supercharge proven solutions
2️⃣ Tackle known problems
3️⃣ Explore unknowns

More:
www.cgdev.org/blog/cutting...

Wrote this with @markusgold.bsky.social — we think there are 3 approaches that can guide smart investments in AI applications for development

"there's a lot of dumb AI-focused bullshit being pushed on users" and "this technology is not fake and has real use cases" are perfectly compatible things to believe

I’m often asked how AI can improve literacy or health if it makes mistakes/ behaves inconsistently. Evaluations help—but the term "eval" is vague. We outline a 4-stage framework to clarify. Feedback requested though also think many parts are practical and ready for adoption. 🙏 for collab J-PAL, TAF

The 2025 IMF & World Bank #SpringMeetings are right around the corner!🌸🌍

@cgdev.org is hosting key conversations with leading global development experts and policymakers—explore our schedule of events and sign up below ⬇️
bit.ly/43HcvIn

🥩

Sequel: Authoritarianism with American Characteristics

Thanks for inclusion in your roundup @thegovlab.org !

When Will US Academia and Business Speak Up Against Trump? | by Dani Rodrik - Project Syndicate Dani Rodrik argues that leaders in both sectors bear a disproportionate responsibility to come to democracy's defense.

“Imagine the chief executives of America’s top universities and richest corporations…issued a public statement that spoke clearly and loudly about the dangers…” Those who speak out will at least put themselves on the right side of history. www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/w...

Cutting Through the Noise: Early Insights from the Frontier of Nonprofit AI Use From March 3-5, over two dozen nonprofits and funders working at the intersection of AI and development convened in Bengaluru to kick off the AI for Global Development Accelerator. The initiative, which...

Meeting w/ nonprofits at the forefront of AI use, @hanshengchia.bsky.social finds that orgs are:

🌐Delivering services at scale with current AI tech
🌐Betting AI-driven personalization can boost impact
🌐Able to measure/manage AI unpredictability

More:

Opinion | Musk Said No One Has Died Since Aid Was Cut. That Isn’t True. A journey through the front lines of global poverty shows that when the world’s richest men slash aid for the world’s poorest children, the result is sickness, starvation and death.

The White House stated that USAID’s elimination would cause no deaths.

A top official said (verbatim), “I give zero f*cks” about widespread credible reports of deaths already occurring.

That official is incompetent. He did no analysis whatsoever of the death toll. Here is a serious analysis:

Thanks, I kinda feel like we’re not really in the accelerationist convo/ that’s going to happen regardless. I’m more concerned about safe AND effective deployments at scale for development outcomes, whatever the state of technology.

Cutting Through the Noise: Early Insights from the Frontier of Nonprofit AI Use From March 3-5, over two dozen nonprofits and funders working at the intersection of AI and development convened in Bengaluru to kick off the AI for Global Development Accelerator. The initiative, whi...

Just in India with orgs on frontier of nonprofit AI use. 3 insights: 1) deployments already happening at scale 2) orgs are betting on greater personalization driving impact 3) mitigations & evals for aberrant AI behavior exist but need to be demanded by funders. My blog for more:

shorturl.at/6YKNx

This is one of those “how will this be reported if this was in another country” moments. Maybe another bilat aid agency should run a democracy, rights, and governance program for the US.

Thanks to brown china summit for putting together the event

I will never be part of a more dramatic looking panel. Hong Kong cop show vibes

Rubio terminated 5800 USAID contracts – more than 90% of its foreign aid programs – in defiance of the courts.

Here’s a list of just some of the lifesaving awards that were terminated. Nearly all were Congressionally mandated. They’ve saved millions of lives. 🧵

Per Dr Atul Gawande, ex USAID: “All malaria supplies protecting 53 million people, mostly children, including bed nets, diagnostics, preventive drugs, and treatments – terminated.”

There are no words that sufficiently describe this level of cruelty and sadism.

I worked for Dean at USAID. Our office helped choose effective programs to get more bang for buck. This administration isn’t trying to improve spending, it’s “psychological warfare against a workforce that has been committed to furthering the lives of other people.”

Here’s why he resigned.