Artificial Intelligence in Public Administration

New Technology That Can Improve the Veteran Benefits Administration Performance And Improve Efficiency
Introduction
The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in public administration is a concept that is growing around the world. As Dhasarathy, Jain and Khan (2019) show, AI can help governments to solve complex public-sector issues in more effective and efficient ways. This paper will describe AI technology, the goals of its usage, challenges faced with its implementation, how it impacts the organizational culture, and the pros and cons of adopting AI methods in public administration.
Summary of the Technology
AI is a technology that essentially allows the machine to learn how to address new problems based on the information collected and analyzed by algorithms over time. AI can be used to help public administrators make decisions and improve their performance. Some examples of the ways in which AI can be used include sorting through infrastructure data to find information on specific issues, or sifting through health and social-service data to develop a program for addressing child welfare in the community (Dhasarathy et al., 2019). To make AI work, programmers must be skilled in writing algorithms and public administrators must know what they want the program to do once it is written.
Goals
The goals of using AI are to create a more equitable and fair community through effective decision making, and to achieve predictive equality via the application of “a set of nuanced debiasing practices used in the field of data science” (Dhasarathy et al., 2019, p. 4). Another goal is to achieve stability in decision making. The use of AI removes the risk of bias, instability, and uncertainty, and allows for all relevant information to be brought together so as to facilitate the decision-making process most effectively. Goals in practical terms can range from deciding which people will receive rehabilitation treatment to deciding where to focus tax audits or which students should receive scholarships and grants based on the probability that they will graduate and use the money effectively (Dhasarathy et al., 2019).
Challenges
The challenges of implementing AI in public administration pertain to the proper writing of algorithms, monitoring for stability, and implementing a program effectively for optimal results. Envisioning the concept is one thing, but execution is quite another. Using AI in public administration requires a skilled team of programmers who can execute on the back end by using a deep knowledge of algorithmic coding and computer languages to create a machine learning program that delivers proper outcomes. The code must be stable, which is a major challenge in IT, and it requires testing and retesting the algorithms to make sure they are doing what they are supposed to do.
Once developed and tested, the program then needs to be implemented and implementation brings its own challenges simply because it is a change that employees need to get used to using. There is likely to be some resistance, so it is necessary to have a good change management plan in place ahead of time, such as Kotter’s 8-step method for managing change.
Organizational Culture
Organizational culture is an important aspect of public administration that cannot be ignored, particularly when a change like implementing an AI program is being discussed. The organizational culture is affected by the outlook, beliefs, values, views, feelings and actions of employees in the organization—and if they are not trained and educated on why the use of AI can be helpful to them in their line of work they are likely to resist it based on uninformed biases that they might have regarding the use of AI or machine learning technology. They might balk at the thought that a computer can do their job better than they can. However, what they need to be made to understand is that AI is not replacing them and their decision making abilities but rather enhancing them and helping them to make decisions more effectively and efficiently.
To promote AI within the organizational culture, public administrators must make sure to provide workers with a vision and reason for why the program is being implemented. The best way to promote a change and overcome resistance is to use reason and logic, which helps workers see the need for change and understand why the new program will help them to reach the envisioned goal. Rewarding workers and celebrating small victories is an important step in the process and accepting feedback from workers also lets them feel more invested in the change.
Pros and Cons
The pros of AI are that it facilitates the decision making process of public administration by giving administrators access to all the relevant information and can provide predictive powers that allow administrators to be more equitable in their dealings with the public. By using algorithms that can read and process all data and draw conclusions based on an understanding of trends and patterns developed in the past, administrators can make projections about which course of action will bear the best results.
The cons of using AI are that it can create a sterile environment in which every decision is based on scientific management principles and there is no room for inspiration, creativity or ambiguity and the science of discovery. AI is only going to be as good as the programmers who developed it and if the developers themselves are sub-par the program will be sub-par and the decision making will not be as effective or efficient as desired. This is why it is so important to have the right programming team onboard before any the plan is implemented. AI and machine learning is not going to help a public administration office if the computer programmers employed do not know what they are doing.
Conclusion
AI is a new and emerging technology that can help public administrators sort and sift through the data and make predictions about which courses of action are likely to have the best results. AI depends upon programming tools and computer codes that can read, interpret and project information to facilitate the decision making process of public administrators. It can help administrators improve their own work and create a fairer and more equitable environment for all. However, it can also run into challenges from workers who feel slighted because so much value is being placed on a computer program instead of being vested in them. To overcome this obstacle, workers should be made to understand that AI and machine learning are tools to help them in the decision making process—not tools to replace them. At the end of the day, public administrators are still needed; computers just help.
References
Dhasarathy, A., Jain, S. & Khan, N. (2019). When governments turn to AI: Algorithms, trade-offs, and trust. Public Sector Practice, January.