By now, we all know that AI is being rapidly deployed by businesses across domains. In fact, as per the state of AI report in 2021 by McKinsey, 56 per cent of all respondents reported adoption of AI in at least one function, up from 50 per cent in 2020. It also said that across regions, the adoption rate is highest at Indian companies, followed closely by those in Asia–Pacific. But even though we see the private sector embracing AI for businesses, the public sector (which sits on huge amounts of data) is still somewhat reluctant to open to the idea of it. The building block for any AI-based platform or system is data, and the governments already have large amounts of it at their disposal, which can be used.
Why it is important for governments to use AI
A business serves a particular customer base, whereas governments have to serve the whole nation or state. Their adoption of AI becomes all the more important due to the sheer magnitude of people they have to cater to. Though some sections of society are still sceptical about the advantages of AI, policymakers should by now be able to realise that if used properly, within the right framework and regulation, AI can greatly impact public services. In fact, in different parts of the world, governments have already deployed AI-based models and mechanisms to simplify public services and boost efficiency. AI can help provide accurate information to citizens quickly and automatically to the individuals and organisations and even help them with many relevant and data-driven predictions to take necessary actions on time.
Other than the fact that the governments have a lot of data, they also have well-documented processes and manuals, which help substantially create and train the data model, leveraging various AI implementations. Now, AI is being used across all the sectors like Medical Sciences, Defence, Agriculture, Transportation, Utilities, Travel & Tourism, BFSI, Retail, Education, Entertainment, Legal Systems and more.
Legal system
The use of AI, ML and NLP can greatly benefit the legal system of countries that are often overburdened with a huge backlog of cases, insufficient staff, and inefficiency. There are a variety of processes in law and order that are repetitive, require long documentation, and scheduling of hearings in which technologies can really step in and improve case flow management. The pandemic saw the electronic courts, which can greatly help to reduce pending cases by performing more efficiently with better court management facilities. Tech-based Alternate Dispute Resolutions mechanisms are also a great way to reduce the burden on courts to focus on more crucial cases.
Robots and virtual assistants (VideoBots, VoiceBots, ChatBots)
Addressing customer grievances for any kind of public service offered is a crucial part of service delivery by the government. They usually employ people to interact with the citizens to get to know their issues and solve them effectively. But with the advent of robots, and virtual assistants (such as VideoBots, Voicebots, ChatBots), it is possible to do the same thing without much human interaction.
Often there are complaints that grievance redressal platforms have not been able to solve the issues of citizens on time, which has caused them great inconvenience. Deploying chatbots for grievance redressal can help solve such problems. Chatbots can solve complaints quickly and can also be cost-effective for governments, and the benefits can be used in more critical areas.
Education
The right education system can transform any country by building the right human capital for the future. Though AI cannot replace a teacher, it can act as an assisting tool in the classroom. In addition, AI can be used for more interactive learning systems.
Dropping out of school is an important issue in developed countries. Predictive analytics can be used to analyse data on students to get insights on students that are more likely to drop out due to various reasons and find ways to make them stay in the education system.
How cutting edge tech can help government departments
Various government departments can use AI and ML techniques to boost their efficiency.
- Improve the top line via lead-generation and engagement (up-sell and cross-sell)
- Improve the bottom line via round-the-clock AI virtual assistant, which automates 70% of the customer support
- Improve customer experience via personalisation and human-centred conversational AI capabilities (multi-format, multi-lingual and omnichannel)
This article is written by a member of the AIM Leaders Council. AIM Leaders Council is an invitation-only forum of senior executives in the Data Science and Analytics industry. To check if you are eligible for a membership, please fill out the form here.
