Allen Koehn* says the opportunity for the Australian public sector to adopt AI technologies is one that can provide benefits for the entire community.
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When it comes to the adoption of innovative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, it’s critical that Australia’s public sector looks to industries like financial services, manufacturing and retail, which are leading change.
Considering that AI is set to inject up to $2.2 trillion into the Australian economy by 2030, the opportunity for the public sector to adopt these technologies is one that can provide benefits for the entire community.
Infosys’s recent report Leadership in the Age of AI found that almost nine in 10 large Australian businesses have already started integrating AI technology into their operations — a jump from just two-thirds (65 per cent) last year.
Adoption in Australia’s public sector remains at just 57 per cent.
In a society that is continuing to adopt AI for the benefits it provides, our public sector needs to do so, too.
With more than half (57 per cent) of Australian IT decision-makers in the public sector reporting AI deployment in their Department or Agency to deliver business-critical solutions, optimise insights or improve citizen experiences, it’s important to understand what’s holding AI back from delivering more value for taxpayers.
Security, inadequate resources and job security were all identified as core road blocks for public sector leaders in the research.
These pose significant, but not insurmountable, challenges. Here’s why:
Security isn’t a hindrance, it’s an opportunity
Some 71 per cent of Australian public sector respondents in Infosys’s report believe their leadership is hesitant to invest in AI technologies due to concerns over security or privacy.
These concerns are not unfounded, for two main reasons:
- New Australian mandatory data breach notification laws that came into effect in February last year are shining a brighter spotlight (and penalties) on enterprises that find their customer’s data is compromised or hacked
- The data hosted in the public sector is intrinsically connected to citizen’s personal identities and state-sensitive information. Infringements of this nature can have far greater consequences than just financial or reputational.
What’s interesting is that the same research found over one-third of Australian business leaders believe that AI’s benefits outweigh any perceived security concerns.
In fact, improved compliance, security, and risk management were highlighted as tangible benefits of AI by 37 per cent of respondents.
Greater productivity was also a significant benefit of AI deployment for 43 per cent of business decision-makers at public sector organisations, while 45 per cent of organisations in mature stages of deployment now expect AI to boost their research and development capabilities.
What about job security?
One in three (29 per cent) Australian IT decision-makers working in the public sector believe AI deployments in their organisation are greatly outpacing the accuracy and productivity of humans doing the same task — with 29 per cent stating their workers are concerned AI will replace them.
But 43 per cent of public sector organisations in Australia have plans to build a dedicated team of AI professionals to counteract and support these changes.
In fact, this provides a great opportunity for the workforce in the public sector.
It can invest in retraining and repurposing human resources to undertake new-found roles that enhance the AI journey — driven by the intrinsically human creative and emotional skills that robots can never replace.
Not only does this provide job security, but it upskills the workforce to achieve better outcomes.
It’s positive to see that nearly half of public sector organisations are planning to increase training in the functions affected most by AI deployments or are looking to redeploy employees to new functional areas (29 per cent).
Better skills for better outcomes
Almost half of all Australian public sector C-level executives see their future strategies hinging on AI.
However, over half (58 per cent) are having a difficult time finding qualified staff to lead integration of AI technologies — a key skills gap holding Australian organisations back.
Better training and education will upskill employees to move them beyond the repetitive tasks that AI will tackle.
Instead, we can turn to focus on our human traits — imagination, empathy and innovation — something that is at the core of a sector founded on supporting the community.
* Allen Koehn is Associate Vice-President and General Manager — Public Sector at Infosys.
