New research on trustworthy and responsible AI looks at the advantages and drawbacks facing the public sector as they start to adopt AI.
The Bennett Institute and Web Science Institute will host a series of workshops on AI to explore opportunities and risks for the public sector as they start to adopt AI. The events are commissioned by the Nuffield Foundation, in collaboration with the Ada Lovelace Institute, as part of new research on responsible and trustworthy AI: economic landscape analysis.
Led by Prof Diane Coyle, Bennett Professor of Public Policy at the University of Cambridge, and Prof Wendy Hall Regius Professor of Computer Science at the University of Southampton, the workshops will be at the forefront of generating new research ideas on how to steer the development and use of AI in the public sector for the benefit of people and society. The findings will inform a funding call on AI, highlighting it as a new priority area of interest for the Foundation.
Many urgent questions remain unanswered about the potential far-reaching impact of AI on people’s lives. Rapidly developing AI technology is raising concerns about issues including data privacy and decision-making, which could lead to biases and unequal treatment of citizens. But there are also likely to be positives, such as improving the responsiveness of public services, and better data analysis.
The four workshops will explore the advantages and drawbacks facing the public sector as they start to adopt AI, very often without the capacity or skills to evaluate AI products or use them appropriately and effectively.
Topics include:
- Just outcomes: AI and administrative justice
- AI and public health
- Civic AI for place-based solutions
- Market failures: what will Silicon Valley not do?
Creating a unique forum, each workshop will bring together leading stakeholders, experts, and policymakers from a range of sectors and disciplines to discuss the issues within the overarching context of how AI can enable public services to be delivered effectively, equitably, and responsibly.
They will also identify research questions relating to technical challenges, governance, the social and political context, data and information gaps, ethics, and public attitudes.
The Nuffield Foundation will use findings from the workshops to set out details of a new funding call on AI as part of our Research, Development and Analysis Fund in March 2025.
Read more about the research project: Responsible and trustworthy AI: economic landscape analysis
The views and opinions expressed in this post are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the Bennett Institute for Public Policy.
