Artificial Inteligence and the Public Sector

Accelerating Public Sector adoption of Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Data are central to The Government Technology Innovation Strategy. Many departments across government are exploring or have already implemented new technologies. Indeed, AI and Data have both been named as one of the four ‘Grand Challenges’ in the Industrial Strategy White Paper. They are global trends set to transform our future and contribute to the UK government’s long-term plan to boost productivity. When government and citizens benefit, so does the economy.

This year, the UK government was ranked second in the global AI readiness league table and is in a prime position to capitalise on AI to deliver better public services. The procurement of innovative solutions from the UK’s thriving tech sector will benefit the economy and grow new and innovative markets across all sectors. A guide to using artificial intelligence in the public sector highlights the areas where AI can have the most impact and where investment can yield the greatest benefits.

It’s clear that, in order to maximise on AI, its opportunities and limitations need to be well understood. It’s essential for public sector organisations to draw on best practice from both the public and private sector.

A number of public sector organisations are already successfully using AI for tasks ranging from fraud detection to chatbots that answer customer queries. The potential uses for AI in the public sector are significant, but have to be balanced with ethical, fairness and safety considerations. Other considerations would include data quality, accountability, privacy, transparency and cost. Any AI system must also be compliant with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018), including the points which relate to automated decision making. Consequently, private sector businesses need to understand that the public sector face high levels of scrutiny when wanting to procure AI technologies and must be prepared to demonstrate proof of concept.

In short, AI technologies and associated tools such as Digital Process Automation (DPA) and Robotic Process Automation (RPA) offer tremendous potential in helping the UK public sector to become more efficient, secure and cost effective. Private sector business need to market their technologies in the right way to allow public sector decision makers to make procurement decisions confidently and securely.