4.1 | Driving innovation at a responsible pace

Placing public servants at the AI steering wheel

1. Introduction

In the last section, you learned how generative AI tools could benefit you, your colleagues and the citizens you serve. At this point, you might be excited to share what you’ve learned with your colleagues to start improving your workplace.

But first, let’s consider the pressures of working in the public service. How does your work environment impact the speed of innovation? Why do you want to use generative AI tools in your role?

2. The pressures of working in the public service

The replies to “Why is burnout such a big problem in government right now?” on Apolitical1 make it easy for us to understand the pressing need for any innovation that could make the job of being a public servant more straightforward. But they also highlight the lack of time, mental space, opportunity and influence you and your colleagues may have to give new ways of working a try.

Like fellow public servant Denise Grant, you might be asking yourself: “How did the public service get here, and how do we dig ourselves out to create a [better] work environment?”2

After playing in the interactive sandbox we gave you in Section 3, you might have uncovered some new ideas.

3. Balancing enthusiasm and caution

To make this course as helpful as possible, we talked to many public servants about the potential of generative AI tools. In these conversations, we discovered two distinct attitudes:

1. A small group of enthusiastic adopters immediately started using generative AI tools to make their jobs easier. They don’t understand what’s taking their fellow public servants so long to get on board. They are frustrated at the slow pace of transformation and worry that government could get left behind in the tech revolution.3

2. The majority of curious but cautious onlookers feel excited about the potential of generative AI tools (if a little daunted, perhaps) and are uncertain if they are allowed to use them at work.4 They want to understand the implications and are worried that overworked public servants will jump at any chance to make their jobs easier without adequately considering the potential consequences first.

These attitudes may seem at odds with one another, but both have a place at the table when talking about how to use AI responsibly in government.

Adopting AI tools too quickly is a risk, but failing to embrace AI tools comes with its own disadvantages.

3.1 Use the accelerator

AI will continue to develop by the minute, public servants shouldn’t wait to implement these tools in their work.5 – Vanja Pantic, Communications Lead, CitizenLab

There is a common concern that the public sector lags behind the growing adoption of AI.6 But according to the European Parliament’s briefing on artificial intelligence and public services in 2021, ‘there is no indication that the uptake of AI in the EU public sector is lagging behind the uptake in other sectors.’7

So why does it feel like the public service is trailing the tech revolution? Could the cautious uptake of generative AI tools following the launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT in late 2022 offer one explanation for this perceived disparity?

Before ChatGPT entered everyday conversation, ways of using AI tools to “increase individual efficiency in the workplace with limited (or no) impact on policy outcomes” weren’t within reach of the average public servant.8 Now, with many generative AI tools and apps to choose from, public servants have immediate ways to spend less time:

• Pre-drafting business cases

• Summarising data from public consultations

• Creating presentations

• Drafting letters, public correspondence and social media posts9

The list goes on. Despite this, most Apolitical members are not taking advantage of generative AI tools, as shown in Figure 1.

3.2 Test your brakes

There is good reason to seek innovation, and you are not alone in anticipating the benefits generative AI offers your government workplace. The European Parliament is optimistic that AI systems geared towards improving internal business processes “may lead to a better allocation of public resources” in the long term.11

However, you work in a unique environment. The stakes are higher than the private sector when it comes to public servants adopting powerful new technologies; unsurprisingly (and sensibly) you want to take your time to understand the implications before using AI tools in your day-to-day work.

You know from Lesson 2.3 that — by taking this course — you’ve made the first educational step towards responsibly using AI. But, what next?

“We must now shift our focus to the mindset people should adopt,” suggest Firdaus Imambaccus and Hugo Morin, two public servants involved in work around AI ethics. “The key driver in the process of operationalising responsible AI is to be humble, receptive, and open to feedback from other specialists and stakeholders.”12

The next step is what happens after you’ve completed this course. You’re going to use what you’ve learned to collaborate with your colleagues.

4. Conclusion

In this lesson, you considered how the pressures of working in government can impact your attitude towards generative AI tools and the overall speed of innovation. You learned that there is good reason to press your AI accelerator while keeping your brakes in check.

In the next lesson, you’ll learn how to start productive conversations about using AI at work that keeps you and your fellow public servants at the steering wheel.

Ready to drive innovation at a responsible pace? Speed over to the next lesson and we’ll guide you through.

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This is the logged out version of a short course in Apolitical’s Government AI Campus. To access all interactive elements and download a certificate of completion, sign up for free.