Artificial intelligence (AI) could help automate around 84% of repetitive transactions across 200 government services, according to a new study released today (Wednesday 20 March) at AI UK, the UK's national showcase of data science and AI hosted by The Alan Turing Institute.
According to researchers at the Turing, the UK central government carries out around one billion citizen-facing transactions per year spanning across almost 400 services - including passport applications and universal credit processes – and 57 departments.
The researchers focused specifically on 201 of these services that involved a decision and an exchange of information between government and a citizen, such as registering to vote or applying for a national insurance number. These are the ones that consume the most effort within government and have the highest potential for time saving if they can be automated.
They estimated that these services were made up of around 143 million complex but repetitive transactions, giving them a high potential for automation by AI. And they believe that 84% of these transactions could be easily automated.
This shows the huge potential of AI to enhance productivity if the opportunity is fully realised.
Dr Jonathan Bright, Head of AI for Public Services and Head of Online Safety at The Alan Turing Institute, said: “AI has enormous potential to help governments become more responsive, efficient and fair. Even if AI could save one minute per transaction, that would be the equivalent of hundreds of thousands of hours of labour saved each year.
“Achieving responsible and accurate automation with AI will require a lot of work, however the huge benefit justifies the investment needed.”
It could make government services more efficient and citizen-oriented, which would improve public satisfaction, cut costs and free up civil servants’ time to focus on other tasks.
Governmental transactions are central to the way rules and regulations are enforced, licenses for activities are provided, and benefits are distributed.
They are also essential to ensuring citizen health and well-being, maintaining the social contract between citizens and government, and responding to global challenges like climate breakdown.
Reducing the bureaucratic cost and overhead of service provision has been made a priority by many different governments, with many seeing AI offering the potential to do this.
Professor Mark Girolami, Chief Scientist at The Alan Turing Institute, said: “AI has the potential to yield enormous good for our society. If the public sector increases their use of AI, it’s important to put plans in place to mitigate the possible risks and ensure that the technology is used responsibly.”
