Delivering Artificial Intelligence in Government: Challenges and Opportunities
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IBM Center for The Business of Government Delivering Artificial Intelligence in Government: Challenges and Opportunities Kevin C. Desouza Arizona State University 2018 Delivering Artificial Intelligence in Government: Challenges and Opportunities Kevin C. Desouza Arizona State University DELIVERING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN GOVERNMENT: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES www.businessofgovernment.org TABLE OF CONTENTS Foreword . 4 Executive Summary . 5 Introduction . 7 Key Advances in AI . .. 7 Applying AI to Help Government . 11 Planning, Developing, and Deploying AI in the Public Sector . 14 Planning . .. 15 Development . 15 Deployment . 16 Challenges and Opportunities for Government in Implementing AI . 18 Technology and Data . 21 Challenge 1: Legacy IT Infrastructure . 21 Challenge 2: Limited IT Interoperability . 22 Challenge 3: IT Project Management Capabilities . 23 Challenge 4: Lack of Prioritization of Data-Driven Solutions . 24 Workforce . 26 Challenge 5: Public Workforce Management Practices . 26 Challenge 6: Culture of IT Ownership . 28 Challenge 7: Limited Capacity for System-Level Redesign . 30 Risk Management . .. 32 Challenge 8: Securing Systems . 32 Challenge 9: Risk Aversion . 33 Challenge 10: Ethical and Social Considerations . .. 35 Challenge 11: Governance . .. 37 Conclusion . .. 40 Appendix: Maturity Framework for AI . 41 Level 1: Unaware . 41 Priority Opportunities . 41 Level 2: Aware and Exploring . 41 Priority Opportunities . 42 Level 3: Organized and Initial System Deployments . 42 Priority Opportunities . 42 Level 4: Deployments at Scale . 42 Priority Opportunities . 43 Level 5: Refinement and Disciplined Innovation . 43 Priority Opportunities . 43 Acknowledgements . .. 44 About the Author . 45 Key Contact Information . 46 Reports from the IBM Center for The Business of Government . 47 3 DELIVERING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN GOVERNMENT: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES IBM Center for The Business of Government FOREWORD On behalf of the IBM Center for The Business of Government, we are pleased to present this report, Delivering Artificial Intelligence in Government: Challenges and Opportunities, by Kevin Desouza, ASU Foundation Professor in the School of Public Affairs at Arizona State University. Professor Desouza reviews recent progress made in applying artificial intelligence to public sector service provision, drawing on lessons learned from commercial experi- ence as well as burgeoning cognitive computing activity by Federal, State, local, and international governments . The author takes this real-world experience to set forth a framework for agencies to plan, develop, and deploy AI systems . He then puts forward a set of challenges for government leaders and innovators in this space, along with opportunities for agencies to act in addressing these challenges . Finally, Desouza outlines a maturity model for agencies to use in guiding their jour- ney forward in applying AI to improve mission performance . Desouza frames his opportunities in three broad areas: technology and data, work- DANIEL J . CHENOK force, and risk management . In each area, agency leaders will find key factors that they can apply to increase the likelihood that emerging AI and cognitive applica- tions will be implemented successfully . These factors include: • Upgrading IT infrastructure to support AI systems, leveraging cloud computing technologies . • Identifying data intensive applications that can benefit from AI, and establishing data governance to take best advantage of the benefits that AI can deliver . • Enabling a skilled public sector workforce to use AI, including through agile implementations and redesigned work processes . • Developing AI in a manner that augments human decisionmaking, and follows ethical imperatives around transparency, security, auditability, and citizen CLAUDE YUSTI involvement . • Working in partnership with government, academia, and industry . The author builds on his prior work for the Center on IT management by CIOs and other public sector IT leaders, and follows on our recent report with the Partnership for Public Service that identifies case studies of government success in this space, The Future Has Begun: Using Artificial Intelligence to Transform Government. We hope that agencies will find the practical and actionable steps offered in this report to be useful in capitalizing on the potential for AI to improve government . Daniel J . Chenok Claude Yusti Executive Director Partner IBM Center for The Business of Government IBM Global Business Services chenokd@us .ibm .com cayusti@us .ibm .com 4 DELIVERING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN GOVERNMENT: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES www.businessofgovernment.org EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This report details the value proposition and success factors for enabling AI in the public sector. Artificial Intelligence (AI) in government involves the design, building, use, and evaluation of cognitive computing and machine learning to improve the management of public agencies . To enable successful use of AI in government, leaders must design and implement governance and policy that promotes a skilled workforce that collaborates with academia and the private sector, risk management frameworks, secure systems, and modern technologies . While public agencies are in their early days of experimenting with AI, these efforts are bound to intensify . To help government innovators progress in this area, the report outlines a maturity model for agencies to develop the capacity and capabilities to fully leverage AI’s potential . The report discusses the following challenges facing the public sector in implementing AI, with opportunities to address each challenge as summarized in the chart on the following page . It highlights practical steps that government leaders can take to leverage AI in ways that improves mission support and mission performance, addressing the subject in three sections: • Planning, Developing, and Deploying AI • Challenges and Opportunities in Delivering AI systems • A Maturity Model for Assessing Public Sector Progress 5 DELIVERING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN GOVERNMENT: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES IBM Center for The Business of Government Table 1: Challenges and Opportunities for Deploying AI in the Public Sector Challenges Opportunities TECHNOLOGY AND DATA Legacy IT Infrastructure • Invest in Upgrading and Modernizing the IT Infrastructure Limited IT Interoperability • Look at Cloud Computing and Open Source as Options to Get Started IT Project Management • Use Agile Governance and Acquisition Practices for IT Capabilities Lack of Prioritization for • Identify Data Intensive Problems that Can Take Advantage of Data-driven Solutions Machine Learning and Cognitive Capabilities • Invest in Data Governance • Deploy to Improve Service Delivery WORKFORCE Public Workforce • Take Steps to Transform the Public Workforce to Take Management Practices Advantage of AI Capabilities • Engage Human Experts in Designing, Testing, and Evaluating AI Culture of IT Ownership • Develop Collaborative Partnerships with Academia to Initiate AI Projects • Initiate Public-Private Partnerships to Design, Deploy, and Evaluate AI on Mission-Critical Priorities Limited Capacity for System- • Redesign Work Processes to Increase Effectiveness and level Redesign Efficiency • Employ AI to Augment Human Decision Making RISK MANAGEMENT Securing Systems • Develop Cybersecurity Capacity Risk Aversion • Promote Innovation Through Crowdsourcing Platforms • Increase Awareness of the Potential for AI Through Exploratory Projects • Develop Collaborative Partnerships Across Agencies on Cross-Cutting Issues Ethical and Social • Prioritize Value-Sensitive Design Considerations • Focus on Protecting Public Values and Common Good Governance • Proactively Monitor Systems to Track Unexpected Outcomes • Develop Robust Audit and Inspection Mechanisms This report was developed by analyzing recent experience in the public and private sector in implementing AI systems, reviewing related literature, and offering a set of opportunities for action . The report generally references AI, the most widely recognized and adopted terminol- ogy, to reflect technologies that augment human abilities and in performing both simple and complex; related terms include cognitive computing, robotic process automation and machine learning . 6 DELIVERING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN GOVERNMENT: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES www.businessofgovernment.org INTRODUCTION Artificial intelligence (AI) systems have come a long way from the days of residing exclusively in the domain of science fiction. Key Advances in AI Building on decades of progress outlined below, most technological systems today have some level of intelligence . Even now-ubiquitous mobile phones contain technologies such as voice recognition, can suggest responses to your incoming emails, and house social apps including Facebook and Twitter that use machine learning algorithms to decide what content to serve up . AI-inspired systems are being deployed in almost every field, including healthcare, education, public safety, finance, international development, and the arts . Since 2012, more than 250 acquisitions have occurred in the AI space, including 37 in the first quarter of 2017 alone1 (see next page) . Interest in building better artificially intelligent systems is palpable . AI systems apply a wide assortment of cognitive computing techniques to large volumes of data to augment human capacities and/or conduct autonomous decision making . These cognitive computing systems: