It can be awkward to ask for money, even for a good cause. But a group of Britain-based researchers have found a very capable partner with no qualms about appealing for cash: AI chatbots.
Over more than 1,000 conversations with a collection of donors, the AI model Claude was nearly three times as effective at eliciting donations for Save the Children as a group of professional fundraisers who had worked on campaigns for the humanitarian group. In addition to persuading a greater percentage of participants to donate some portion of their one-pound study bonus, Claude Opus 4.6 also elicited an average donation 13 percent higher than that elicited by the human fundraisers.