Artificial Intelligence

Digital units: from the hard push to the helping hand

On their launch, many central digital functions used strong-arm tactics to push departments into line. But at the Government Digital Summit, digital leaders from around the world signalled a change […]

Tackling the robot bigots: how to implement Artificial Intelligence intelligently

The tech industry is excited about Artificial intelligence. But in government, ‘learning’ algorithms can create big problems – producing discriminatory decisions, and threatening transparency and accountability. At the Government Digital […]

Estonian citizens to access public services through virtual assistants

The Estonian government is working on a project that will enable citizens to interact with government departments and access services via virtual assistants such as Alexa and Siri. The aim […]

EU seeks to take on AI world leaders while protecting public

The European Union has unveiled proposals to promote the ethical, trustworthy and secure development of artificial intelligence (AI) in a bid to challenge Silicon Valley’s and China’s dominance in the […]

Can the centre hold? How to establish a central digital team

Central digital units can drive progress across government – but they’re not easy to establish or develop. At the Government Digital Summit, top officials from 15 countries heard how Sweden […]

UK standards committee: ‘urgent need’ to strengthen regulation of public sector AI

A new report looking at artificial intelligence (AI) in the UK public sector says there’s an “urgent need for guidance and regulation.” AI has the potential to “revolutionise” public service […]

Automated welfare fraud detection system contravenes international law, Dutch court rules

A Dutch court has ruled that an automated surveillance system using artificial intelligence (AI) to detect welfare fraud violates the European Convention on Human Rights, and has ordered the government […]

UK report: hand anonymised financial data to public trusts

A ‘data commons’ holding aggregated, anonymised financial data should be established in the UK, according to a new report by London-headquartered think tank, the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR). […]

US government urged to spend $25bn a year on AI or risk falling behind

Congress and the White House should work together to increase annual federal spending on artificial intelligence (AI) research and development to US$25bn (€19.2bn), according to a national security think tank. […]

Artificial intelligence must be fair and safe for consumers, say MEPs

Consumers must be safeguarded from artificial intelligence (AI) and automated decision-making (ADM) which is “advancing at a remarkable pace”, says a European parliamentary committee. A draft resolution, approved by the […]