Feature
Unlocking AI’s potential for social movements
Building effective channels for the interaction between AI developers and activist communities is critical for innovating social mobilization and strengthening civil society.
Commentary
Using AI Now to Improve Movements’ Effectiveness: A Basic Introduction Guide for Social Activists
Freddy Guevara offers a fundamental playbook for social activists on how to augment advocacy efforts with artificial intelligence technologies
Many people still see artificial intelligence as something distant, futuristic, or overly technical—something that requires deep knowledge of coding or advanced computing to be useful. However, AI tools are already here, and social activists can use them today, many of them for free, to enhance their work.
While AI’s potential for activism is vast, my goal here is to show practical ways activists can start incorporating AI into their daily organizing efforts with publicly available tools.
I want to be very clear that I do not endorse any specific model or tool, and I firmly encourage everyone to consider privacy risks and potential ties to adversaries. However, any activist with an average smartphone or computer with a decent internet connection can have access to many Large Language Models (that’s the technical name for the different apps or AI chats that exist) options, including Perplexity, Claude, ChatGPT, DeepSeek, Gemini, LLaMA, and others. Very important: many recommend open-source models for greater control over security and transparency.
I use AI almost daily in my strategizing, activism, and research. I can assure you that you don’t need advanced skills—just access to a trusted LLM and basic knowledge for asking the proper questions and creating the right prompts. These are skills that you will learn by yourself over time, but that can also be reached by those models (you can ask them: write me the best prompt to request your assistance to plan our movement’s next move).
Below, I’ll outline how AI can support activists in some key aspects of social movements: learning, training, planning, analyzing feedback, and improving communication—all while ensuring that human agency and critical thinking remain at the center of the process.
1. AI for Learning: Knowledge is Power
Every successful activist understands that knowledge is key. AI models provide an accessible and effective way to explore theory, history, and best practices. You can use AI as your guide and prevent yourself from spending months reading papers or books that might not be the ones that you need.
You can use AI to structure your learning process by asking:
- What historical movements are similar to my current struggle?
- Who are the main authors or researchers in my field?
- What lessons have been learned from other movements?
- Which books, documentaries, or case studies should I explore?
I use AI to help me identify useful resources, summarize insights, and provide different perspectives.
2. AI for Training Others: Making Knowledge More Accessible
Not everyone in a movement has time or need for deep research and learning. That’s when AI can also become very handy: it can help you turn complex information into training materials that make knowledge easier to share.
For example, you can use AI tools to generate:
- Summarized training documents
- Slide decks for presentations
- Scripts for explainer videos and others.
Interestingly, while structuring this article, AI suggested including quizzes to help activists test their knowledge after learning. I thought this was a good idea, so I included it.
Many AI-powered tools are available for these purposes, such as Gamma and Tome for generating presentations or Synthesia and HeyGen for creating video explainers with AI avatars.
3. AI for Planning: Building Smarter Strategies
Strategizing is at the core of activism, and AI can serve as a powerful tool to structure thinking, facilitate discussions, and refine plans. AI won’t create strategies for you, but it can help you prevent key elements from being overlooked.
Activists can use AI in several ways to support planning:
- Guiding strategic thinking: AI can help activists structure their approach by suggesting key questions to consider when designing a campaign.
For example, you can ask AI:
- “What should I consider before launching a new action?”
- “What challenges have other movements faced in similar situations?”
AI can suggest methodologies and frameworks for decision-making and consensus-building. It can save you a lot of time if you ask something very specific like, “Recommend me 5 different methodologies to design a new campaign incorporating the ideas of 20 people that lasts no more than 3 hours”.
Analyzing past strategies – You can upload previous reports and ask the AI to identify patterns, what worked and what didn’t, and provide insights based on previous experiences.
Additionally, I strongly recommend using AI in planning as a critical consultant—a tool to challenge assumptions rather than just generate answers. Before finalizing a strategy, I always ask the AI model:
- What am I missing?
- What biases might I have?
- Why could this strategy fail?
AI won’t provide definitive answers, but it can highlight blind spots.
4. AI to Understand What Your Base Thinks: Analyzing Feedback at Scale
A common challenge for movements is bridging the gap between leadership and grassroots supporters. In the past, large-scale assessments required significant funding and time. Now, AI makes it possible to process and summarize feedback more efficiently.
For example, activists can ask their base several questions, collect responses, and then use AI to categorize and prioritize them. Instead of manually reviewing and analyzing thousands of responses, now movements can process large amounts of data in minutes and ensure grassroots voices are included in decision-making.
5. AI for Communications: Maximizing Impact While Saving Time and Money
Creating high-quality content can be expensive, but AI tools can help reduce costs and enhance communication efforts.
Some AI-powered tools activists may find useful include:
- Image & graphic generation: DALL·E, Midjourney, Runway
- Video creation: Synthesia, Runway Gen-2, HeyGen
- Music & jingles: Boomy, Soundraw
- Voiceovers & text-to-speech: ElevenLabs
- Translations & subtitles: Whisper AI
These tools can help movements create professional-quality content quickly, even with limited resources.
Final Thoughts & A Warning: AI as a Tool, Not a Substitute for Thinking
Even this article was created with AI assistance. Before writing it, I used an AI model to brainstorm ideas, refine the structure, and gather tool recommendations. It even recommended some ideas (like including doing quizzes for training purposes). But the experiences, analysis, thinking, and final choices—what to include, how to phrase arguments, and what messages to emphasize—are mine. That cannot be substituted (at least for now)
Activists should approach AI as an assistant, not an authority. AI is a powerful tool, but never forget where the real power lies: the people.
Ah, and by the way, that last phrasing was mainly suggested by AI, so now you know that it can also create some catchy phrases for your documents.
More from this Program
Feature
The AI and Democracy Movements Workshop: A Postscript
Erica Chenoweth shares a brief addendum to the Nonviolent Action Lab’s workshop held in December 2024 on how AI can influence social mobilization, for better or worse.
Occasional Paper
How AI Can Support Democracy Movements: Summary Report of a Research and Practice Workshop
Democracy movements are struggling to challenge autocratic governments, partly due to the changing technology landscape. This report summarizes a December 2024 workshop on the specific issue of AI adoption within democracy movements and offers some key recommendations.
Feature
Unlocking AI’s potential for social movements
Building effective channels for the interaction between AI developers and activist communities is critical for innovating social mobilization and strengthening civil society.
Feature
The AI and Democracy Movements Workshop: A Postscript
Erica Chenoweth shares a brief addendum to the Nonviolent Action Lab’s workshop held in December 2024 on how AI can influence social mobilization, for better or worse.
Occasional Paper
How AI Can Support Democracy Movements: Summary Report of a Research and Practice Workshop
Democracy movements are struggling to challenge autocratic governments, partly due to the changing technology landscape. This report summarizes a December 2024 workshop on the specific issue of AI adoption within democracy movements and offers some key recommendations.