64 VIEWPOINT From breast cancer screening for timely diagnoses to supporting the preservation of historical buildings, AI can make a meaningful difference when grounded in execution and trust RICHARD ACREMAN: REPLY AI for social impact When people think about AI today, they tend to associate it primarily with productivity, efficiency and automation. These are important dimensions, but they represent only part of the picture. AI can also play a transformative role across culture, society and healthcare, where the objective is not only speed or cost reduction, but also accessibility, inclusion, safety and long-term wellbeing. AI for social impact is often described in terms of ambition. We hear about its potential to save lives, protect the planet, improve access to education and preserve cultural heritage. What we hear far less about is why so many initiatives struggle to survive beyond their first pilot. The uncomfortable truth is that social impact does not fail because of a lack of ideas. It fails because execution is hard, trust is fragile and scale is unforgiving. In sectors where resources are limited and accountability is non-negotiable, AI must work consistently, securely and transparently from day one. Impressive technology alone is not enough: without solid digital foundations, responsible governance and the ability to scale, impact remains symbolic rather than systemic. Social impact organisations operate under pressures that commercial enterprises rarely face. They must prove outcomes, not just efficiency. They have to earn trust from beneficiaries, donors and institutions while managing sensitive data, regulatory constraints and operational complexity. In this context, AI becomes valuable only when it is built on platforms designed for resilience, security and long-term growth. At Reply, our work in AI for social impact focuses on this execution gap. We support nonprofit organisations, public institutions and mission-driven initiatives in moving from experimentation to operational solutions that can scale safely over time. This means integrating AI into real-world environments, where data is fragmented, processes are complex and trust is essential. By combining cloud platforms, advanced analytics and AI-driven systems with strong governance and integration capabilities, we help organisations embed technology into core operations without creating technical debt or unsustainable cost structures. In social impact, scale is not about doing more, but about building solutions that remain reliable and effective year after year. One area where this approach is already delivering results is accessibility, inclusion and cultural preservation. In Vatican City, in collaboration with Microsoft and Iconem, we developed an immersive digital experience centred on a highly accurate Microsoft Azurebased digital twin of St. Peter’s Basilica. The solution combines storytelling, multimedia content and AI-driven analysis to support preservation while making the Basilica’s history accessible to millions of users during peak moments. A similar principle applies in the cultural sector at Art Basel, where we developed an AI-powered image recognition solution that enriches the visitor experience by providing real-time contextual information about “The success of AI for social impact should not be measured by innovation narratives, but by outcomes”
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