Charity AI Task Force issues response to government’s AI action plan
The Charity AI Task Force has today issued a response to the government’s AI Opportunities Action Plan, calling for immediate engagement with the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) sector, to ensure the safe, ethical and equitable use of AI across the UK.
Launched in January as a ‘blueprint to turbocharge AI’ across the UK, the government’s AI Opportunities Action Plan currently makes no mention of charities or civil society organisations - something that the newly-convened Charity AI Task Force is keen to redress. As the task force’s joint chairs, Dan Sutch (Director of CAST) and Zoe Amar (Founder of Zoe Amar Digital) explain:
“Like many others across the sector, we were heartened to learn of this plan, with its timely focus on accelerating AI innovation, infrastructure and skills - but were surprised to discover that there was no mention of the charity sector. Not only do VCSE sector organisations offer vital support to millions of individuals and communities across the UK, amplifying underrepresented voices and addressing harms, but they are actively adopting - and indeed innovating with - AI.
“We’ve seen the use of AI across the VCSE sector rise from 61% last year to 76% this year (according to initial findings from the 2025 Charity Digital Skills Report) - with 83% of respondents to CAST’s 2025 AI charity survey describing their levels of AI knowledge as ‘foundational’, ‘experienced’ or ‘proficient’. Evidently, the sector is proactively exploring the benefits of AI to ensure it best represents the communities we work for, but it’s vital that it moves forward at pace with the public and private sectors - and with the same levels of support made available.
“We’re calling on the government to engage directly with the VCSE sector, not just to ensure balanced and equitable adoption of AI across all sectors - but indeed to glean benefit from the reciprocal wealth of insights, skills, resources and connections that charities can share. Charities have huge amounts of expertise - and knowledge of communities which could be utilised to build AI products and services with other sectors, thereby contributing to the ambitions for growth which underpin the government's plan.”
Whilst support from the VCSE sector can naturally be layered across all levels of the plan, there are specific areas in which it can reasonably be expected to deliver the most impact - and these have been laid out clearly in the response delivered by the Charity AI Task Force. The document lays out six key focus areas, covering 16 of the 50 recommendations detailed in the plan - and outlining ways in which the VCSE sector can support the government to achieve its objectives and ensure the benefits of AI are equitable.
Today’s response - co-authored by all members of the task force and delivered by Dan Sutch and Zoe Amar - urges the government to connect with the Charity AI Task Force at the earliest possible opportunity, in order to fully explore the vast potential of the VCSE sector to support in the inclusive, fair and representative delivery of this plan.
