GPSJ Autumn 2024 ONLINE - Flipbook - Page 36
GPSJ
IT & IT SECURITY
How parliament can set the
benchmark for responsible
AI adoption
By Sam Peters, Chief Product Officer, ISMS.online
2025 is set to be the year in which the government and public sector entities more actively embrace AI within
their operations.
Sam Peters
2025 is set to be the year in
which the government and
public sector entities more
actively embrace AI within their
operations.
Back in October 2024, Labour
MP Nick Smith revealed that the
House Authorities, alongside the
House of Lords administration
and Parliamentary Digital Service
(PDS), have been actively
exploring the potential for AI
and other new technologies to
support the work of Members.
“PDS is undertaking a costbene昀椀t analysis of Microsoft’s
Co-Pilot AI tool, which includes
AI for mailboxes,” Smith stated,
acknowledging the potential for
36
such tools to support sta昀昀 in
their management of day-to-day
administrative activities.
It’s a noteworthy headline.
Indeed, the PDS considering
the use of AI tools to assist MPs
re昀氀ects the growing integration
of AI into public services and the
desire to increase e昀케ciency and
improve service delivery.
Indeed, back in January 2024,
the head of the National Audit
O昀케ce, Gareth Davies, gave a
speech in parliament in which he
outlined that greater productivity
could release tens of billions for
government priorities, noting the
important role that technology
could play to “transform service
delivery, reduce costs and
improve the user experience”.
With budgets under scrutiny,
the government must be seen to
be practicing what it preaches,
working to ensure every penny
goes further. Clearly, this latest
move from the PDS appears to
be a step in that direction.
E昀昀ective governance is just
as important as AI itself
Like many other sectors, AI
has the potential to signi昀椀cantly
modernise and improve
e昀케ciency in governance within
parliamentary functions.
Indeed, AI could be used
to deliver a variety of bene昀椀ts
GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC SECTOR JOURNAL WINTER 2024/2025
that support the ambitions laid
out by Gareth Davies, from
enhancing productivity and
increasing e昀케ciency to optimising
decision-making and improving
service delivery. Yet despite the
bene昀椀ts, there are several key
considerations that public sector
entities must keep in mind when
developing and deploying AI
systems.
Data privacy, for example,
must be made a key priority, with
individuals increasingly seeking
assurances that their sensitive
and personal information won’t
be misused by AI systems – a risk
that Smith acknowledged during
his speech.
“Before a pilot of Co-Pilot
could happen within Parliament,
there are important information
rights protections to put
in place to make sure that
sensitive information is handled
appropriately,” he stated,
a昀케rming that steps are being
taken to put those protections in
place.
In this sense, good governance
will be just as important as the
technologies themselves, with
regulations now also emerging
to drive the adoption of ethical
AI development and deployment
and safeguard sensitive
information.
The European Union is leading
this charge, with the EU AI
Act being one of the 昀椀rst and
comprehensive such regulations,
focused on the protection of
digital rights, fairness, and the
elimination of algorithmic bias.
