Washington, DC – Today, Community Change Action and Change Agent AI announced the launch of a first-of-its-kind private large language model (LLM) and Artificial Intelligent (A.I.) chatbot developed to strengthen and safeguard community and grassroots organizing.
The A.I. chatbot—also named Change Agent—is designed to support Community Change Action’s mission by providing rapid content generation, qualitative data analysis, translation into 23 languages and dialects, code generation, and strategic guidance. It will serve as a valuable resource for both staff and grassroots partners, enhancing their ability to develop effective campaigns, craft compelling narratives, and mobilize communities around shared values.
The partnership between Community Change Action and Change Agent AI has two overarching goals: to develop and maintain a “language model for the movement” that reflects a progressive worldview and can be leveraged through a chatbot; and to build power and advance A.I. literacy so that progressive organizers can leverage and inform AI advancements with a tool that is of, by, and for movement practitioners.
“The communities who have historically had the freedom to innovate with new technology have been the people who already have traditional resources and power,” said Mikka Kei Macdonald, Creative Director at Community Change Action. “It is both our strategic and moral imperative to make sure that as AI strategy evolves, community organizers and low-income people are not left behind. We have the opportunity to ensure that the next series of innovations are borne and led by the people who will be impacted by them – not just by wealthy entrepreneurs who do not reflect the diversity of the country.”
As the world grapples with rapidly developing A.I. technology, it is clear that without this intervention, the technology would make the rich richer while leaving behind middle and lower-income families from across the country. Already, large corporations are partnering with conservative outlets that do not represent the world and future we are building towards. In response, Community Change and Change Agent’s goals reflect the urgency of harnessing this technology for good, to safeguard our communities jobs and livelihoods, and the need to ensure new technological strategies rely on the same values of community-building and storytelling that have fueled the progressive movement for generations.
“We have the power to create an LLM that speaks like the people we want to reach,” said Craig Johnson, co-CEO and cofounder of Change Agent AI. “Giving organizers the power of AI without the dangers of Big Tech drives us everyday. And we should because big tech will never let us build enough power on their platform to threaten their own. Time after time big tech has sided with the powerful and monied interests in our country.”
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