The funding investment was announced at an 'AI For Funders' conference in London led by The National Lottery Community Fund on 14 May (pictured).
The funding will support the development of a new UK-wide 'AI Pulse network' pilot of 50 community organisations, alongside community-led development of alternative AI tools and models rooted in local needs and lived experience.
Projects under the pilot could include, for example, a local charity that supports people with benefit claims, funded to spot when decisions made by an algorithm are going wrong, and to share those warning signs with the wider network of 50 community organisations so that early action can be taken.
The first grants are expected to be awarded in autumn 2026.
The funding partnership is acting in response to concerns about the emerging impacts of the use of AI on communities, including areas such as diagnostic tools, workplace monitoring, and other AI applications in education, healthcare and more.
Commenting at the conference, The National Lottery Community Fund’s CEO, David Knott, warned that
“AI is advancing at extraordinary speed, but society’s ability to understand, interpret and shape that change is not keeping pace. That is the wisdom gap we now have to confront. Today’s funding announcement is about helping communities see change earlier, make sense of it together, and shape a parallel path in which AI is guided not only by technical possibility, but by social wisdom. If communities are to help society learn and adapt in this moment, they cannot sit at the edge of these systems - they have to help shape them.”
The first grants are expected to be awarded in autumn 2026. Further details on the pilot scheme will be available on the UK Community Foundations' website.
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The press release is available on The National Lottery Community Fund website, and the UK Community Foundations website.
