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Background and scope
This report addresses the following objectives of the AI Watch project:"To provide an overview and analysis of the use and impact of AI in public services."
As part of this objective, this report presents a summary of the proceedings of the 1st AI WATCH Peer Learning Workshop on AI use and impact in public services, which took in Brussels on 11-12 February 2020.
- To discuss findings from the preliminary landscaping of AI use in public services across the EU and to outline the methodological approach for assessing social and economic impact of AI in public services;
- To support the elicitation and sharing of current AI practices across Europe and among Member States and define priority services to focus on, while identifying case studies for further in-depth analysis;
- To act as the starting point of a process of engagement of the EU Member States on relevant collaborative activities for monitoring and anticipating current and future uses and trajectories of AI in the Public services.
From the presentations given by the JRC regarding the current state of AI, it emerged that this technology is widely experimented across public administrations in European countries, although the data gathered so far do not provide a full picture of the current landscape. AI was found to be mostly applied in general public services, economic affairs and health services, with Chatbots often mentioned as a frequently applied solution. However, innovation based on AI, seems to be mostly incremental or technical with a limited occurrence of disruptive innovation in the public services.
This document summaries the results from the debate and knowledge sharing that occurred during the two days of workshop on two different topics:
- During the first day, the aim was to discuss existing use cases of AI in public services in the Member States and to explore ways to classify the large variety of the initiatives mapped. In addition, the different drivers and barriers influencing the use of AI in the public sector were explored. These were identified widely including law, funding, knowledge, culture, procurement, change, data availability and ethical risks.
- In the second day, participants were asked to co-design meaningful indicators for assessing the impact of AI on public services. While often mentioning that the indicators should take in consideration the context of the service, many participants highlighted the need to focus not only on economic indicators but rather also on the notions of public value and wellbeing.
Check here the report of the 2nd AI WATCH Peer Learning Workshop on ‘AI in a pandemic society’ organised by the JRC jointly with DG CNECT.