Introduction
Artificial intelligence technology promises to generate a revolution in public services, enabling enhanced capacity, quicker response times, greater situational awareness, and higher efficiency throughout a multitude of areas of public life. Despite the promise and breadth of such systems, the comparative mapping of use and understanding of AI impacts at the operational level of public services is an underexplored research area. This project aims to survey public sector workers in a wide variety of contexts to understand their perceptions and experiences of actual use of AI systems within their respective domains. This work is comparative in nature to understand commonalities and difference within specific public sector contexts, and across the wider public sector landscape.
Project aims
The core aim of this work is to understand the use and impacts of AI within UK public services. This scope will include experiences of use, impacts upon specific domains, role within productivity, and wider perceptions of AI systems in public services. Scoping surveys will provide initial data to compare and research perceptions regarding AI use across public services.
Collaborations with professional regulators and sector-specific public sector organisations will then be undertaken to provide granular assessment at a domain level through large-scale survey projects with professionals. This work will also aim to provide an insight into the current ‘state of play’ of operational AI systems in UK public services.
Applications
Overall, we anticipate that our results can support greater understanding of how public sector professionals are using AI systems within their domains, the impact of these systems upon productivity, and their perspectives regarding AI. This work is valuable to enabling a range of stakeholders, including professional regulators, policy makers, and innovators, to engage with the complexity of operational AI particularly in high-stakes domains.
The Alan Turing Institute and the General Medical Council are collaborating to understand doctors’ experiences and perceptions of artificial intelligence through a survey of doctors in the UK. This research aims to better understand the operational deployment and use of different types of AI systems, as well doctors’ views on the opportunities, challenges, and their professional responsibilities when they are making decisions with AI.
Organisers
Youmna Hashem
Researcher
Saba Esnaashari
Data Scientist
John Francis
Data Scientist
Dr Jonathan Bright
Head of AI for Public Services and Head of Online Safety
Dr Florence Enock
Senior Research Associate, Online SafetyPrevious contributors
