During my years in public service, one constant has been the challenge of doing more with less. Delivering services becomes increasingly difficult when faced with a surge in requests and incomplete information. Now, imagine tackling these challenges with smarter tools designed to manage demand more effectively. For instance, in Canada, predictive analytics played a critical role during the pandemic, helping optimize resource allocation for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) amid a sudden spike in demand.

Governments like Canada (and others) are taking proactive steps to position AI as a companion technology, backed by clear guidelines and directives to mitigate risks and ethical concerns. This forward-thinking approach is essential to harnessing AI’s potential responsibly.

AI offers transformative potential to significantly enhance efficiency and effectiveness in delivering value to citizens. However, realizing this potential requires us to view AI as an evolving technology—and to evolve alongside it. Achieving this means rethinking our approach, adapting not just our tools but also our perspectives.

AI is not static

Currently, AI is still about prediction—forecasting the next word, number, or action within a given context using complex algorithms – albeit with an ability to handle much more complexity than even a year ago. But this is just a snapshot of where we are today. AI’s evolution is likely to expand significantly in months, not years. Think of it like the weather: we can anticipate trends, but adaptability is key. That’s why we need messaging and strategies that focus on what we know now while staying ready to pivot as AI evolves.

One of the most significant pitfalls is treating AI as a fixed tool or technology. It’s not. AI is a big player in an evolving ecosystem, one that will grow in complexity as it becomes embedded in all manner of applications. Instead of trying to define AI definitively—only to revise that definition repeatedly—public service leaders should focus on communicating, ‘Here’s what we know now, here’s where it seems to be heading, and here’s how we can stay engaged.’

This framing encourages employees to approach AI as an evolutionary journey, not a destination, fostering resilience and ongoing learning. Approaching this with the curiosity and openness of a Zen beginner’s mind allows us to stay receptive to new opportunities—whether deploying the technology in innovative ways or rethinking our perspectives. In many ways, it’s akin to raising a child: as the child evolves, we must remain attentive, adapting and growing alongside them.

AI literacy is key to continued engagement

AI literacy is a critical investment for governments, departments, and agencies in this journey. This isn’t about turning everyone into data scientists but about demystifying AI and equipping people with tools to think critically about its applications. It’s about engaging with larger questions like:

  • What are AI’s strengths and limitations?

  • Where is AI most appropriate right now?

  • What will its use mean in these areas, and what are the stakes if mistakes occur?

  • How can it be a companion technology to enhance public service outcomes?

By engaging with these questions, employees will be in a better position to see AI as an amplifier of their current skillsets, not necessarily a replacement for their positions in an organization. In fact, with the extra time that AI can free up we can start to think of innovative ways to help our citizens access government services more efficiently and make public servants more effective in their delivery of services and programs.

The benefits of AI literacy extend beyond adaptability. A workforce that understands AI can contribute more meaningfully an intentionally to discussions about its evolution and use, offering valuable insights into ethical considerations, operational integration, and strategic opportunities.

This collaborative mindset ensures that AI isn’t just something done to the public service, but something done with it—a crucial distinction for building trust and engagement.

Ultimately, the message is simple: AI will keep evolving, and so must we. By emphasizing flexibility, literacy, and critical thinking, we can prepare public service leaders and employees to embrace AI as a partner, not a threat. Together, we can ensure that this ever-changing companion technology helps us deliver on the promises of public service—efficiently, ethically, and equitably.

The promise of technology (that old chestnut)

From the industrial revolution to modern times, thinkers like John Stuart Mill, John Maynard Keynes, Isaac Asimov, and Buckminster Fuller have theorized that technology would reduce the number of hours we would need to work, leaving time for self-development and leisure*.

The mantra of working smarter not harder is alive and well, and AI seems poised to help us get closer to that. Well, that is if we avoid the trap of filling that extra time with just more stuff. Organizational cultures around productivity may still be stuck in an industrial mindset that may run counter to knowledge work or even concept work, so the temptation to fill free time with producing more tangibles is real.

This could be a turning point in workload improvement and an opportunity to avoid some of the mistakes of the past such as overworking employees with less meaningful tasks that AI could easily take on, leaving time for the more abstract thinking that as humans we are so good at.

But that’s part of this intentionality around AI, revisiting some of our mindsets, frameworks and approaches to put us in a better position to realize the full value of what the technology has to offer.

In short, as AI’s capabilities evolve, our thinking and engagement must evolve with it. In doing this we will be able to understand where it is going and become more adept at guiding this evolution in ways that will benefit humanity instead of disadvantage it.

The question now is, how will we ensure that AI becomes a trusted, ethical, and empowering companion technology to amplify our skills, capabilities, and work? Where will you want to be with AI a year from now? We need to keep putting programs in place so that we can share this accountability in guiding AI’s evolution. It is up to all of us to make sure that AI is raised right.

I propose that we engage with AI through a Zen beginner’s mindset—open, eager, and ready to nurture this companion technology into reflecting the best of what humanity has to offer. Let’s continue (or start) creating AI literacy programs, let’s continue to integrate our discussions across sectors in our respective governments and in partnership with others, and let’s bring everyone along so that fewer of us are left behind. It takes a village.

*Sidebar: I write this while also fully acknowledging that these theories come from a place of privilege and that we currently live in a world where power distribution is still not well balanced. I also acknowledge that if left unchecked AI could also amplify these inequalities, so even more reason for intentionality with our engagement.