AI could be the key to unlocking a more efficient UK public sector

From stretched budgets and staff shortages to growing waiting lists, public services are under immense pressure. Could AI be the solution?

At the Google Cloud Public Sector Summit UK today in London, government leaders, technology experts and industry partners are convening to explore how the transformative power of AI, cybersecurity and data analytics can address critical challenges across the UK public sector.

New research by Public First, commissioned by Google Cloud, paints a picture of how AI could revolutionize everything from healthcare to policing. The report, "AI and the Public Sector,"

surveyed 415 public sector workers in the UK and suggests that automation and generative AI hold significant potential for boosting public sector productivity, creating up to £38 billion a year in annual savings by 2030.

Here are some of the key findings:

• Boosting productivity: AI could automate up to a third of daily public sector tasks, such as records management and data processing, freeing up valuable time for employees to focus on higher-value work.
• Improving service quality: By streamlining administrative tasks and improving efficiency, AI could lead to better and faster service delivery for the public. Public sector workers themselves consider efficiency and the automation of repetitive tasks to be the strongest arguments in favor of using AI.
• Transforming key services: The report indicates that AI has the potential to significantly impact vital public services like policing and healthcare. For example, fully adopting AI for administrative tasks could free up the equivalent of over 160,000 police officers and could unlock 3.7 million more GP appointments every week. This would ease capacity constraints in these sectors.

The research highlights that many public administration workers recognise the potential of AI tools but are still early on in the overall process of adoption. Two-thirds of public administration managers agreed that AI will change the way the public sector operates forever - but just 12% said that they had already significantly deployed AI tools.

Despite their openness to AI integration, concerns around data security and legal implications remain significant barriers. The report stresses the need for addressing these concerns and equipping the public sector workforce with the necessary skills to effectively utilize AI. Building trust and transparency in AI implementation is crucial for its successful adoption in the UK public sector.

The report urges the government, public sector organizations and tech companies to collaborate and focus on:

• Upskilling the workforce: Only around a third (34%) of public administration managers were confident that their workforce had the right skills to take advantage of AI. Equipping public sector employees with the skills and knowledge to effectively use AI tools.
• Addressing data concerns: 55% of public administration managers agreed that they would need access to different or better structured datasets to fully take advantage of AI. Establishing robust data security measures and clarifying legal liabilities to build trust and ensure responsible AI use.
• Maintaining transparency: 60% of public administration managers agreed that there were legal or regulatory barriers that would make them cautious about using AI tools more extensively. Openly communicating about how AI is being used to foster public trust and understanding.

Want to learn more? You can access the full report here.