Generative AI is being deployed in the public sector

After saying a few words of welcome, Almassi began by contextualizing and pointing out the different histories that have played a key role in the development of generative AI.A journey that ended in 2016 when “algorithms reached the capacity to learn without human supervision.”

Ethical issues

Afshin Almassi said that new challenges are being created with generative AI and that there are “justifiable concerns, especially due to the ethical issues that arise.” Ultimately, the goal should be: “Ethical use of data and advanced analytics, including generative AI, to improve service and that the decision-making process has a positive impact on the lives of citizens.

expert desk The promises and challenges of implementing generative AI in the public sector there was five extraordinary heroes: Javier Hernández Díez, deputy director general for the Promotion and Innovation of Digital Justice Services; Laura Mora Casado, Head of Analytical Services Area of ​​the Social Security Data Office; José Miguel González Aguilera, deputy director general of Digital Services of the Autonomous Information Technologies Authority of the Madrid City Council (IAM); Ignacio González García of the National Office of Fraud Investigation (ONIF) and Ezequiel García Collantes, deputy director general for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Enabling Technologies at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation.

The first question presented for discussion was how generative AI could be applied to government services.. In this sense, Mora Casado broke the ice and pointed out the dual use of this technology within the scope of Social Security. On the one hand, to speed up certain processes in the interior; On the other side is the part about the user. In this context, he said, “This AI will allow anyone to carry out different procedures that may be complex at the moment (such as claiming benefits), with the data we have about the user.”

Improve accessibility

Hernández Díez spoke along the same lines, explaining that Justice “has been seeing its potential for a long time and how it could be implemented.” For example, generative AI can serve as a translator of judicial language to make it more accessible for the average citizen to understand.. The priority of the deputy director general of the Promotion and Innovation of Digital Justice Services is “to increase the accessibility and efficiency of justice.”

The deputy director general of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Enabling Technologies explained that the biggest challenge for the Ministry of Economy is to develop the solution implemented with more data for the citizen: “A chatbot can personalize the experience with the user’s existing data,” explained García Collantes. “The biggest problem is that this information exchange between ministries and administrations is extremely difficult.”he stated.

According to González García, “generative AI is now, like blockchain was then, a solution looking for a problem, and we must be careful because Governance has very specific problems.” He stated that helping the taxpayer is important, but that one cannot fall into “simplification”.because there are procedural issues (e.g. legal issues) when deploying this technology that cannot be simplified.

attempt

González Aguilera was the last to speak, and for the Madrid City Council he said: “We have a lot of unstructured information about citizens that represents the opportunity to provide services to them, and generative artificial intelligence is another tool.” He defined the moment we live with artificial intelligence in one word: “discovery”.

There was also time to put it on the table Issues such as bias in AI (which can lead to anomalous behavior continuing) and the need for regulationRegarding the use of this tool at both state and European levels.

García Collantes pointed out that one of the biggest challenges of generative AI is that it adheres to the Spanish legal framework, for example.. This poses a major challenge due to the validity period of the laws and the complexity of updating the language model to avoid presenting incorrect information.

great difficulties

Concepts such as ethics and the need to create small-scale productive AI models capable of performing certain tasks were also raised, but experts agreed that, first of all, a message should be conveyed to society so that fear disappears and excitement disappears. Mora Casado was very descriptive at that moment: “Generative AI cannot be stopped. This is a challenge and we must work on it consciously.”.

Finally, each expert concluded their intervention with different key messages. This is very important for González Aguilera “Apply artificial intelligence from local government to improve service to citizens”. González García, on the other hand, pointed out that the aim is to “adapt to the demands of society”, noting that “to the extent that citizens will use artificial intelligence, the Administration must lead such progress”, “to ensure that we do not have a more unstable world due to the inequality that the uncontrolled use of this technology can lead to.” ”

García Collantes concluded his presentation by offering several key ideas on incorporating generative AI into the public sector.. So: be ambitious and self-critical, don’t just optimize AI internally – “in short, we’re here to help citizens,” he stressed – and take into account the need to engage talent backed by the Administration itself.

For Hernández Díez, Artificial intelligence’s goal regarding justice is “to improve justice and become more accessible”. As for the challenges, there are many: “legal, organizational, technical, investment… but most importantly communication and testing with specific use cases.”

Mora Casado concluded by highlighting several keywords, such as data or social protection, and above all by sending an important message: “We must eliminate citizens’ fear of artificial intelligence and set an example”. In short, as Almassi put it at the closing of the event: “The biggest challenge in the effective use of artificial intelligence is to put humans at the center. It should serve to provide more precise answers to our questions and to improve human decision-making rather than making machines or buildings smarter. Therefore, it is beyond the hype.” , generative AI should be considered as a component of the responsible use of advanced analytics to transform data into operational intelligence, improving services and decision-making in the public sector.