Making AI work for people and society
At the Ada Lovelace Institute, an independent research institute with the mission to ensure that data and AI work for people and society, we undertake research to understand public needs and expectations in the age of AI and seek to shape policy choices and public sector institutions to meet those needs.
It’s clear that governments around the world are grappling with many of the same issues related to data and AI in public services so I’m delighted that Global Government Forum has invited me to regularly share some of the Institute’s emerging thinking and preview our research and policy commentary with their international audience of public sector leaders and civil servants.
Policy in practice
The intersection between policy and technology is a topic close to my heart. Since researching young people’s experience of online spaces over a decade ago, I’ve seen an urgent need for policy to engage with and shape how technology is disrupting society – part of my impetus in scoping the Ada Lovelace Institute, and previously 5Rights. I have experience working to shape a range of social policy issues, from vocational education and domestic abuse to early years and legal aid. At the Institute for Public Policy Research I worked on a cross-cutting agenda for public service reform.
My time at Citizens Advice, the national charity offering free confidential advice to support people with their problems, highlighted the harms caused when government policy and service design don’t work well enough. I saw first-hand the harms to people’s lives when public services failed to meet their needs. Pulling the ‘right’ policy lever is important but not enough on its own. You also need to understand how policy decisions play out in terms of delivery and practice on the ground.
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Building the evidence base
At Ada we’ve now spent six years building evidence on the emerging use of AI in the public sector. We have been struck by the often polarised discourse about AI and the real lack of evidence about impacts and efficacy.
We’ve undertaken research engaging with frontline professionals, public services, expert bodies, citizens and affected people, regulators and government departments to explore how different actors across the public sector could use AI in the public interest and with public legitimacy.
We’ve examined use cases in different public services settings, from biometrics in policing to novel public health technologies in the COVID pandemic. We’ve worked in partnership with the NHS and with local authorities, and piloted transparency, impact assessment and evaluation tools. Our most recent projects look at the adoption of genomics and AI in healthcare settings, the evaluation of ‘EdTech’ tools, and the early adoption of foundation models (sometimes also called ‘generative AI’) in the public sector.
Across these different types of applications, we’ve explored the questions of how, where and when the state and public services should use AI. Through our public and expert deliberations, we’ve sought to understand what would be accepted by the public and frontline professionals, where it would be seen as legitimate and valued, and the conditions that would make it work.
We’ve sought to understand not just the technologies but also the ‘sociotechnical’ reality, exploring the messy and unpredictable ways in which technical systems interact with publics, professionals and power. AI in the public sector raises bigger questions around the changing nature of the relationship between people and the state. The insertion of technology opens up new opportunities to reexamine how that could evolve.
Through this series with Global Government Forum, my hope is to surface these themes and prompt discussion about this rapidly evolving topic.
Read more: First global AI treaty signed by US, UK and EU governments
Three questions on AI
To begin with I thought I would share a recent post on the Institute’s blog unpacking the new UK government’s growing enthusiasm for using AI to transform public services.
My colleague Matt Davies and I argue for three fundamental questions that need to be asked about any deployment of AI. First, does it work? Secondly, does it work well enough for everyone? And finally, does it work well in context – not just under test conditions, but on the street, in the hospital or in the classroom?
I hope it sparks some ideas for you, and I would love to hear your reflections.
About Imogen Parker
Imogen is Associate Director (Society, justice & public services) at the Ada Lovelace Institute. Imogen’s career has been at the intersection of social justice, technology and research. In her previous role as Head of the Nuffield Foundation’s programmes on Justice, Rights and Digital Society she worked in collaboration with the founding partner organisations to create the Institute. Prior to that she was acting Head of Policy Research for Citizens and Democracy at Citizens Advice, Research Fellow at the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) and worked with Baroness Kidron to create the children’s digital rights charity 5Rights. She is a Policy Fellow at Cambridge University’s Centre for Science and Policy.
