Responsible AI Deployment in the Public Sector
The Responsible AI in the Public Sector project supported by the University of Notre Dame and IBM’s Tech Ethics Lab, seeks to support responsible AI deployment in the public service delivery by contextualising ethical principles and existing AI governance guidelines into a practical and accessible fitness check which key decision-makers in government can use to mitigate potential harms before AI deployment.​
​By combining multi-disciplinary academic work and practitioner-led insights, the project addresses key factors on AI deployment in the public sector, focussing on: key socio-technical considerations including language,diversity and inclusion for AI in the Public Sector, capacity building for the future of government, and policy recommendations for responsible AI deployments in the Public Sector in India.
How can we ensure the responsible deployment of AI in the public sector by integrating key ethical values and socio-technical considerations?
Advances in AI have the potential to transform how governments regulate, deliver services, and interact with citizens. Research indicates that the use of AI in public services is fast becoming widespread. However, deployment of AI solutions in the public sector varies in its purpose from end-user or enterprise applications and gives rise to substantially different ethical challenges when compared to its application in the private sector. Public deployments of AI need to be citizen-centric, and keep the public good at the core through enabling democratic values like trust, accountability, transparency, protection of rights and ensuring adequate public oversight mechanisms. Use of AI in the public sector has previously resulted in harms and exclusion of marginalised communities without adequate safety nets. There is a compelling need to contextualise the growing literature and frameworks on ethical AI and responsible AI governance to support safe and trustworthy deployment of AI in the Public Sector.​​
Project Activities
01.
Cross-disciplinary review of literature
02.
Mapping existing frameworks and policies
03.
30+ Expert Interviews
04.
Multistakeholder consultations
05.
Providing Recommendations and Actionable Frameworks
Research Questions
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How can socio-technical considerations like language, diversity, and inclusion be effectively addressed before public sector AI deployment?
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How can government officials ensure responsible deployment of AI that is centered around key ethical values and prioritizes meaningful inclusion?
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What capacity-building initiatives are essential for Indian government officials to navigate the ethical risks of AI during the pre-deployment stage?
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How can actionable frameworks enable government officials and companies to forecast potential harms and prepare mitigation strategies?
A Multistakeholder Approach
Project Outputs
A Report for Key Stakeholders
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The final report combines multi-disciplinary academic work and practitioner-led insights to address AI deployment in the public sector, focussing on: key socio-technical considerations including language, diversity and inclusion for AI in the Public Sector, capacity building for the future of government, and policy recommendations for responsible AI deployments in the Public Sector in India. The report offers key recommendations on the following: 1. Capacity building on AI for future government institutions; 2. Values to guide the AI use in the public sector; and 3. Meaningful inclusion of communities with linguistic and cultural diversity.
Playbook for Government officials​
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The playbook provides actionable frameworks to support bureaucrats at both the national as well as the state or federal levels in India by actively centering key ethical values in public deployment, ensuring stakeholder engagement across the deployment process and providing forecasting tools to anticipate key risks of ethical harms and prepare active prevention and mitigation strategies.
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