This article includes input from Banyan Impact Fellows Ananya Chandra, Haeli Juthani, Moira Donovan, and P Nupur.
AI is no longer a distant concept or a futuristic buzzword. It’s here, and as you read this blog, it’s reshaping industries across the globe, including the social impact sector. For young professionals stepping into the workforce, this transformation offers both opportunities and challenges. The question is no longer if AI will impact your career but how you can adapt to thrive alongside it.
According to a recent McKinsey report, by 2030, AI and automation could displace up to 375 million workers – roughly 14% of the global workforce. I’ve watched AI reshape traditional roles in the social impact sector: grant writers now use AI to draft proposals, communications teams employ AI tools for content creation, and impact measurement specialists leverage machine learning for data analysis.
As I’ve observed through my work as a Senior Fellow at the American India Fellowship (AIF), this intersection is creating a dynamic shift. Through conversations with young professionals from the current cohort of AIF’s Banyan Impact Fellowship (BIF), I’ve discovered a wealth of insights on how early-career development professionals can embrace this change while staying true to the values of the sector. These Fellows, from both India and the United States, drive impact through service and fieldwork across diverse thematic areas and stand at the crossroads of this technological revolution, navigating its impact firsthand.
Here’s what I’ve learned from their experiences and reflections.
Uniquely Human Skills Needed in the Social Impact Sector
Moira Donovan, serving with the TeamLease Foundation in Gurgaon, offered a grounded perspective. “So much of our work in the development sector is ad-hoc, addressing issues as they arise,” she explained. “AI making a tangible impact seems unlikely in this context.” Her view struck me as particularly insightful. While AI excels in objective roles, the social impact sector often requires a contextualized understanding that only human expertise can provide.
This conversation with Moira highlighted a crucial truth – while AI might handle foundational tasks, the emotional intelligence required in social impact work for the ability to read between the lines, to understand unspoken needs, to build trust with communities remains uniquely human.
Yet, this doesn’t mean young professionals can remain static. As roles evolve alongside AI, the most future-proof professionals will be those who cultivate skills that stand the test of time, like adaptability, critical thinking, and problem-solving (Forbes).
Authenticity and Creativity
During our discussions, Ananya Chandra, a Fellow at VIKSAT, brought forward a perspective on research. She shared a striking observation about how AI is subtly reshaping the very fabric of research and writing. “Earlier, when I researched and read reports for my undergraduate thesis, I encountered genuine diversity in thinking and expression. Now, many reports seem to echo each other as if filtered through the same AI lens,” she observed. Her insight highlights the need for what is “AI hygiene.” This involves using AI as a tool without losing one’s unique voice and perspective (more on AI hygiene in the last section).
Extrapolating on this idea, another Fellow, P Nupur, sees AI as a tool to “structure out the mental spreadsheet of ideas” – a practical aid rather than a replacement. But she also raised important cautions about AI’s limitations, particularly its inability to replicate the depth of understanding gained from lived experiences and direct community interactions. Her awareness of AI’s inherent biases, stemming from its human developers, showed a nuanced understanding that many lack.
Creativity and Technical Capabilities
My conversation with Haeli Juthani, a Fellow at the Sristi Foundation, revealed another fascinating dimension of AI’s impact. Working with a nonprofit focused on empowering individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, she observed that AI, particularly generative AI, has opened lots of prospects for creativity and creative building.
People with non-technical backgrounds confidently tackle tasks that were once considered highly technical. This shift, she noted, has profound implications for inclusivity – opening doors for diverse storytellers and perspectives. Yet, Haeli’s observations come with an important caveat: We must remain vigilant about the Western-centric nature of many AI tools, ensuring they amplify rather than diminish diverse voices and experiences.
Future-Proofing Your Career in the AI Era
As I reflect on countless conversations with young professionals grappling with these changes, I find myself returning to certain pieces of advice time and again. For those stepping into the social impact sector during this AI revolution, here are the strategies I’ve seen work most effectively:
- Practice Good AI Hygiene: It’s crucial to develop AI hygiene. It’s about knowing how to guide AI with the right prompts, sifting through its responses with a critical eye, and, most importantly, making its outputs genuinely yours. You need to develop an instinct for spotting biases, fact-checking assertions, and transforming AI-generated content into something that truly reflects your voice and understanding of the community you serve. As Nupur pointed out, AI comes with its inherent biases and learning to recognize and address these is part of maintaining good AI hygiene.
- Embrace AI as Your Creative Partner: Think of it as a tool that can handle foundational tasks, allowing you to focus on what truly matters: building relationships, fostering trust, and driving impact. Develop skills that AI cannot replicate, such as emotional intelligence, adaptability, and critical thinking.
- Find Your Technical Edge While Staying a Generalist: Years of working in the development sector have taught me one key lesson: The most adaptable professionals in our sector are those who balance a broad understanding of development work with at least one specialized skill and this approach aligns with emerging workforce trends (Future Skills Organisation). The development sector needs people who can see the big picture while bringing a specialized tool to the table.
- Prioritize AI Security and Privacy Awareness: Understanding AI security and privacy isn’t just a technical necessity; it’s a cornerstone of responsible practice. According to Global Cybersecurity Outlook 2025, 66% of organizations expect AI to have the most significant impact on cybersecurity in the years to come. Young professionals who combine social impact expertise with digital safety awareness are increasingly valuable in grassroots development work.
The future of work, particularly in the development sector, will belong to those who can understand when to rely on technology and when to trust human insight.
