AI and the Public Service

As many of us know the backlog of public service work is endless - there are always additional ways for the government to serve its people and increase its service offering and AI can become a tool to assist with this process. However that doesn't mean there is no threat to the Public Sector.

The biggest and most common one that I can see is AI Job Displacement. Many jobs can be automated by AI in its current form (assuming there continues to be incremental improvements in the technology over time). Now while a great many people disagree - they are likely not considering the impact of private sector job cuts. If the private sector begins to cut jobs there becomes a flow on effect to the taxable income that the government can collect. This will also lead to a massive decline in aggregate demand - leading to CBD business closure, reduction in taxable income, further Public Sector cuts, increasing social security etc etc. The government may also be challenged in the amount of debt it can borrow if there is limited faith in their ability to make repayments. This is all to say even if people strongly believe their role cannot be automated - if Private Sector starts cutting jobs the public sector will not be far behind.

The secondary risk is that the quality of services fall. Most people can remember the effect of Robodebt (whilst fairly limited) was quite damaging to Australians and the public's faith in Government and the Public Sector.

I commonly read some of DISR AI articles and other government publications and I am keen to understand how others might perceive some of the upcoming challenges involved with AI and what we can do as public servants to prepare.