We are living through one of the most exciting periods of technological innovation in human history. As the pace of artificial-intelligence (AI) development accelerates, the speed, scale and scope of this technology will be vast, presenting a once-in-an-era opportunity to alter the course of economic, scientific and social progress.
The private sector is moving at speed to adapt to this new reality but, as the Tony Blair Institute (TBI) and Faculty’s recent paper Governing in the Age of AI: A New Model to Transform the State sets out, the opportunities for the public sector to deliver results for citizens and reap efficiency gains are equally huge. As the traditional model of government reaches its limits, technological leaps are creating an opportunity to rethink fundamental aspects of how the state operates, delivers and innovates.
AI helps governments drive innovation as well as economic growth. And this is about much more than developing an indigenous AI-startup ecosystem. This is about focusing on higher-value functions that will benefit the majority of people, which is at its heart a government’s mandate. This guide will help governments lead by example. Countries that don’t adopt AI will be left behind.
Our two organisations – TBI and SandboxAQ – have partnered with a shared goal. We aim to offer leaders a practical guide to begin to make the choices on AI technology that will define their countries’ futures and allow them to harness the power of this revolutionary technology rather than be buffeted by it.
As AI moves at a dizzying speed, those governing today face a simple but practical question: where do I start? The usual answer is to begin by setting a strategy. But this in itself is a huge question. At a time when the United States alone is investing trillions of dollars in AI infrastructure and companies such as Google and Microsoft are announcing $100 billion supercomputers, seeking comparative advantage in and of itself is a huge task.
For many leaders, the easier starting point is this question: what problem am I trying to solve and how can AI help me get there? Bureaucracies are ill-equipped to drive this alone. Leadership is critical. Rather than striving for full-scale transformation at the outset, leaders can focus on smaller, high-value use cases with low risk that can yield quick wins. Such use cases can help countries speed up their learning curves and begin to build towards those greater goals.
The journey towards implementing AI-based systems in government involves setting clear objectives for what AI can do, taking stock of where a country’s AI readiness stands and identifying some priority use cases. As a government does this, it must navigate a set of key technical decisions that are crucial to deliver on the promise of any AI strategy or AI solution in government.
Government leaders we speak to often feel less than comfortable with these technical decisions – due to their complexity, the risks, the pace of change and also the enormity of the potential impact. But just as private-sector corporations and CEOs have found in the last ten years, senior political leaders must grapple with and personally engage in the technical decisions from the centre of government to align the whole government behind their digital and AI transformation.
As part of our partnership, TBI and SandboxAQ have set out practical steps to guide leaders in setting out a framework for developing a comprehensive approach to harnessing the power of AI. This guide informs the backbone of any approach for any government anywhere and at any stage of development. The hardest part for any political leader is how to get started. It is essential to focus on how to make the early-stage technical decisions that underpin implementation of AI systems to maximise success and deliver results for citizens, in accordance with a country’s overall AI readiness and ambition. We refer to this as a government’s AI technology strategy.
The must-do steps for any leader are as follows:
Identify and prioritise AI opportunities across a wide range of government functions, including health care, education, transportation, public safety and security, environmental management, social services, public administration, economic planning and development, and legal and compliance issues.
Understand their current capabilities, including technical (compute, networking and data) and human resources, and calculate the amount of capital and time required to implement various AI-based solutions.
Identify AI-readiness gaps and address roadblocks and bottlenecks that could affect their AI deployments and delay the benefits of these technologies.
Determine AI best practices to ensure optimal privacy, security, effectiveness and cost savings.
Focus initial efforts on high-impact, manageable use cases to rapidly demonstrate value and gain support among key stakeholders.
In addition, TBI and SandboxAQ are actively exploring the ten critical cross-cutting technical decisions that leaders must make – and the pros and cons of each – in relation to how to collect, store and utilise data that AI systems require, and who should build, operate and maintain the data and infrastructure. This includes an evaluation of the various layers within an AI technology stack so that leaders can make informed decisions before deploying AI systems within their government’s IT architecture.
TBI and SandboxAQ are developing a comprehensive approach for leaders, taking them from the initial steps outlined here to full deployment of AI across key services. In a world of pressing challenges and tighter finances, figuring out how to effectively harness the power of AI is the only way for political leaders to get big things done. The guide marries practical insights from TBI’s extensive experience advising political leaders on how to get big things done with SandboxAQ’s technical expertise in AI to solve complex problems and tackle societal challenges.
As political leaders embrace the age of AI – and recognise this revolutionary moment as an opportunity for governments to reimagine their roles and ways of operating – our playbook aims to equip them with the knowledge and strategies they need to lead their nations into this new era of transformation.
We invite government leaders around the world to collaborate with us on this framework, starting first with the steps outlined here and drawing on our collective expertise to map the practical steps to embrace technology at speed and scale for the benefit of more people. If you are interested in using “Governing in the Age of AI: A Leader’s Guide to Artificial-Intelligence Technical Strategy”, please reach out using this form.