How Public Sector Can Effectively Realise the Benefits of AI

AI is no longer a futuristic technology. It has already started changing businesses in ways that were previously unimaginable. The power of AI stems from the humongous amount and variety of data that are collected today in almost every business and field. However, not more than half of them are analyzed due to lack of resources and human limitations. But with AI, such data can be effectively analyzed thus overcoming human limitations. Experts forecast that someday will come when AI will surpass human intellect and abilities nearly in all areas.

What Can AI do for Governments?

With AI impacting every field, the public sector can also take advantages of the technology to make effective advancements. Among the list of capabilities that AI presents, the following advantages will become evident with AI application in the public sector.

Trend and Pattern Detection Will Become Easier

With individual data records in place, patterns between important macroeconomic variables, changing behavioral trends and expectations of individuals can be efficiently detected. Without the help of AI, the complexity and volume of such data make it humanly impossible to be analyzed effectively. So machine learning algorithms and natural-language processing (NLP) can achieve this feat much easily. By trial and error, computers can learn from historical trends and mine information to discover patterns in data.

Better Predictive Analytics with AI

With AI, predictive analysis can be strengthened. Better predictions will allow governments to implement more targeted policies. With more detailed predictive analytics, precision will increase and human bias will decrease. Predictions will be more comprehensive and keep the policymakers updated. Moreover, forecasting technology can also help in predicting weather and satellite observations. These can help the government to prepare for any impending disasters and send aid accordingly. Over time, the accuracy of such forecasting is deemed to increase with self-learning of machines.

Automaton of Labour-Intensive Tasks

Computer vision (CV) facilitates the collection, processing, and analysis of any digital image data from various sources. NLP allows machines to effectively mine information from audio and text data. Machines can be better capable of deriving insights from unstructured real-time data much easier. So, all these will lead to automation of labor-intensive cognitive tasks that would usually require human supervision. This will dramatically reduce paperwork. It will significantly reduce administrative tasks. Mundane tasks like data entry and form filling can be dealt completely by machines.

Efficient Resource Allocation with Reduced Cost

The government sector is often constrained due to lack of funds and resources. With automation, costs will go down significantly and public workers will be able to concentrate more on tasks requiring human supervision. Resource allocation will be optimal. Data input and insights can be maintained by machines. Humans and machines can work together for a more efficient solution by combining their strengths. Backlogs and wait times can be minimised, thus benefitting both public agents and citizens. Data backlogs can be cleared by machines with end-to-end business processes while the difficult tasks can be left to human judgment.

More Interaction with Citizens and Addressing their Queries

There is often a gap between the requirement of citizens, what public agents promise and what finally is delivered. With chatbots, these gaps can be bridged. Chatbots can interact with citizens individually and is more accessible and available than public agents. Moreover, it is capable of remembering individual queries of citizens. New Zealand has already developed the world's first AI politician called Sam with the aim of contesting her in future elections. Such AI robots can help minimise the gap between citizens and public agents, thus delivering more effective services. So public sentiments can be effectively gauged and information related to policy queries can be effectively delivered.

Measures that Government Can Take for Efficient Implementation

•  Before deployment of AI, governments should analyze ethical considerations of implementing AI. Collective responsibility in building AI systems should be taken so that it doesn't pose security risks to users.

•  Decisions made by an AI agent should be governed and supervised by human judgment.

•  The public should be able to understand AI-enabled services easily, that is, how they function, to ensure trust in the technology.

•  The deployment of AI should be responsible and done after analyzing the capacity of AI agents to act autonomously and calls for frequent safety checks and monitoring.

•  Legal responsibility and accountability need to be ensured when any human agency is replaced by AI agents.

•  Social and economic impacts of AI should be analyzed before deployment.

•  AI should be mutually interdependent on human judgment.

Conclusion

As historical trend suggests, AI like any other massive technological breakthrough is likely to cause disruption in the economy along with its benefits. How much the benefits of AI will be realized will depend on public's trust in the new technology. Moreover, there are fears over automation and privacy associated with AI. So, the governments have an important role to play in this context by incorporating the technology for a more effective solution as well as designing regulation for the effective implementation of AI.