OECD urges governments to take ‘high-benefit, low-risk’ approach to AI
Governments must prioritise artificial intelligence that delivers the greatest value to citizens at the lowest risk to service outcomes and public trust, according to a report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
Entitled Governing with Artificial Intelligence: The State of Play and Way Forward in Core Government Functions, the report – published on 18 September – stresses that the high-benefit, low-risk approach is important in building “an initial level of maturity” in AI across government.
However, it highlights that most governments lack the necessary processes for “holistic measurement of potential or realised results”, such as “efficiency of spend, quality of services [and] potential harms”.
“This should be a priority for governments as a cross-cutting step that helps unlock the potential of AI, and it will be a focus of future OECD work,” it said.
The report recommends that governments enable “trustworthy adoption” of AI and put in place guardrails to guide its use, and that they “shape user-centred and responsive approaches” to incorporating the technology in public services.
Included in the report is a Framework for Trustworthy AI in Government, which is built around ‘three pillars’: enablers, guardrails, and engagement.
As the report explains, enablers describe “quality data, digital and AI skills, funding and digital infrastructure”; guardrails cover “transparency, accountability and risk management tools”; and engagement refers to sensitive consultation with “citizens, civil servants and cross-border collaboration”.
Together, these three pillars form the basis of a “systems approach” that governments should take to “fully exploit AI’s potential and address its various risks and implementation challenges”, the report said.
Taking a systems approach to AI allows governments to adopt relevant technologies responsibly in the short-term, the report said, adding that governments should also “seek to anticipate future changes”.
Speaking on a webinar about the contents of the report on the day of its release, Elsa Pilichowski, the OECD’s director for public governance, said that over-reliance on AI was a key risk for governments when it comes to building and maintaining public trust.
She cited several instances in which “faulty reasoning driven by algorithmic results relying on skewed data” had led to individuals being wrongly accused of fraud or unpaid debts and “severe financial and family hardships”. Resulting public scandals meant that resistance to AI could last for years after such incidents, she said.
Pilichowski warned, however, that if governments failed to adopt AI fast enough, public trust would be eroded further by perpetuating services that were unfit for purpose.
Read more: US federal government launches action plan to ‘win AI race’
AI-powered civil service reform
The report includes current and emerging trends based on 200 cases across 11 core government functions.
It touches on the potential of AI to aid civil service reform, from personalising HR services to reducing the burden of administrative tasks and boosting the productivity of employees, among other benefits.
In HR, some governments were “actively experimenting with AI applications in recruitment, learning and development”, it said.
Though government initiatives were often “fragmented pilots without a strategic approach for systemic adoption”, some countries such as France had succeeded in using a more “coherent” method to explore the benefits of AI in civil service reform.
The French government’s strategy for embedding AI in human resource management, for example, focuses on three key areas: AI integration, workforce planning, and training for civil servants. According to the report, the country has developed training programmes to “upskill employees and developed ethical guidelines that merge HR and digital ethics”.
“This approach helps ensure that AI is applied in a way that balances technology with human oversight, while preparing the workforce for the future of AI in public administration,” the report said.
Other notable aspects of France’s strategy were its “clear objectives for AI use”, as well as the selection of “reliable AI tools” for use in “establishing methodologies to ensure transparency and accountability in AI-driven processes”.
“The plan also incorporates risk mapping and internal audits to monitor AI’s impact and help ensure its ethical use,” the report said.
More broadly, “given the right data, AI systems could eventually help better match people to jobs, and predict performance based on job requirements and individuals’ characteristics and backgrounds”.
The report warns, however, that a range of elements needed to produce optimal outcomes in governments are currently missing in many instances. These include strong data on the unique characteristics of governments’ workforces, “the demands of specific jobs”, and “indicators of individual performance”.
“To unlock this potential, governments will need to invest in more and better HR data, as well as associated skill sets in the human resource management (HRM) function,” the report said.
Read more: Australia sets out standards for government AI alongside new collaboration tool
‘Transparent and inclusive dialogue’ with civil servants
Governments are also encouraged to engage civil servants in positive dialogue about AI while adoption efforts continue.
The report said that the roles and responsibilities of officials were “directly impacted by the introduction of AI technologies” and that their insights are “invaluable in shaping a responsible and effective AI use”.
It stresses the need for “transparent and inclusive dialogue” with public servants and trade unions to ensure AI evolves in a way that adheres to existing labour rights.
“Workers should be informed about the objectives of AI initiatives, the potential impacts on their roles and the measures in place to mitigate any negative impacts,” it said.
“Social dialogue and collective bargaining are… key to building trust and effective collaboration among public servants and ensuring access to training to develop the skills and capabilities needed to work with AI.”
About Jack Aldane
Jack is a British journalist, cartoonist and podcaster. He graduated from Heythrop College London in 2009 with a BA in philosophy, before living and working in China for three years as a freelance reporter. After training in financial journalism at City University from 2013 to 2014, Jack worked at Bloomberg and Thomson Reuters before moving into editing magazines on global trade and development finance. Shortly after editing opinion writing for UnHerd, he joined the independent think tank ResPublica, where he led a media campaign to change the health and safety requirements around asbestos in UK public buildings. As host and producer of The Booking Club podcast – a conversation series featuring prominent authors and commentators at their favourite restaurants – Jack continues to engage today’s most distinguished thinkers on the biggest problems pertaining to ideology and power in the 21st century. He joined Global Government Forum as its Senior Staff Writer and Community Co-ordinator in 2021.
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