A cut-price shopping list for AI products

Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to improve charities’ organisation and support by methods such as writing content, creating images and videos, and developing chatbots and presenting research.

 

But there are fears small charities operating on a shoestring budget will be locked out of such opportunities. A Charities Aid Foundation survey in 2024 found that seven in ten members of the public are concerned small charities will miss out due to costs involved.

 

While the most sophisticated AI tools and packages can be costly, there is also a wide array of useful cheap and free tools for charities to access.

 

Here we look at some of the cost-effective tools available. Charities are advised to always consider wider issues about AI use, such as its impact on equality and the environment.

 

 

ChatGPT

 

Among the most well-known AI tools is OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which creates human-like responses to queries from service users, supporters, and staff. Its latest 2024 version is ChatGPT 4o.

 

A look at its history shows it had 180.5m users in 2024, up considerably on January 2023’s figure of 100m. A factor in this popularity is its cost effectiveness.

 

A free version is available with access to its ChatGPT 3.5 version and limited access to ChatGPT 4o.

 

A Plus package costs around £16 a month for further functions, such as image generation through its DALL.E 3 tool.

 

A Team package costs around £20 a month and offers added sharing functions. Meanwhile, an enterprise package, offering further functions including analytics, is also available by contacting Open AI.

 

In May 2024 OpenAI introduced OpenAI for Nonprofits, which offers charities the Team package at a discounted rate of around £15 a month. A 50% discount on the Enterprise package is also available.

 

 

Koala AI

 

A cut-price AI tool specifically to create content, such as search engine optimised articles and blog posts is Koala AI, which is powered by ChatGPT. Its packages include access to its content tool KoalaWriter, and chat bot tool KoalaChat.

 

Its Essentials packages costs around £7 a month and offers 15,000 words a month using KoalaWriter, and 250 messages a month via KoalaChat. It also offers access to image making and search engine optimisation tools.

 

A Starter package costs around £19 a month and trebles the KoalaWriter wordcount and doubles messages that can be sent via KoalaChat.

 

 

Midjourney

 

Among the most well-known AI image generators is Midjourney, which has cheap packages to help charities create imagery for their promotion, marketing, and fundraising.

 

Its basic plan starts at around £8 a month, while £95 a month can be spent on its ‘mega plan’ that has extra functions and allows the creation of more concurrent jobs.

 

A free trial version had been available but as of 2024 it has been suspended due to high demand for people wanting to try out the tool.

 

Users should also be aware it can only be used through the Discord social media platform, but as of 2024 a website version is being developed.

 

 

Article.Audio

 

Converting the written word to audio, as podcasts or embedded into websites for example, can boost accessibility of charities’ content.

 

This process can be speeded up by using AI tools such as Article.Audio, which is powered by content creation platform Thundercontent.

 

This can convert text, through a weblink, text document, PDF, or photo, into spoken word with a ‘natural sounding human voice’. Charities can select different AI voices, speaking styles and languages depending on their audience.

 

This has a free trial version as well as a Pro plan, costing around £16 a month and including unlimited conversion, higher quality audio as well as additional speaking styles and support.

 

 

Synthesia AI Video Generator

 

Creating video content is another way AI can help charities. Among tools to offer this is Synthesia AI Video Generation, which replaces human actors or charity representatives with AI avatars against a choice of backgrounds.  

 

This can be a cost-effective way to create engaging videos, but is the AI avatar as convincing as an authentic service user or staff member?

 

A free version offering 36 minutes of video a year and a choice of six avatars is available. A Starter version costs £23 a month and offers 10 minutes of video a month and choice of more than 70 AI avatars.

 

A Creator package costs £69 a month and offers 30 minutes of video a month and further avatar choices and customisation. This is more expensive but could prove cost effective for charities that generate a lot of video content a month, either to promote their work or for training content.

 

 

Formula bot

 

Creating spreadsheets and other ways to present data can be time consuming. AI tools such as Formula bot can help by swiftly converting text into Microsoft Excel formulas and codes.

 

It has a free version, which allows access to add-ins in Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets. Meanwhile, its plans start at around £7 for further functions, including larger upload limits.

 

 

Notion

 

Workflow and project management platforms are being enhanced by AI tools, such as Notion, which uses AI to answer staff questions, generate ideas, write content and autofill tables.

 

It has a free version and monthly packages start from £7 per user offering further functionality.