How can the public sector use AI for public good?

We hear a lot about the power of generative AI (gen AI) for public good. In the UK, it’s estimated that AI can automate 84 percent of citizen-facing transactions and has the potential to save £200 billion each year.

But how are government leaders from 10 Downing Street, GCHQ, UK Ministry of Defence and more really leveraging democratised data as a strategic asset for AI insights, cybersecurity and more? Moreover, how do we measure the impact of AI in government?

Those are just a couple of the questions that will be asked at Elastic’s flagship Public Sector event, coming to London on September 25. The free to attend event will bring together government organisations from across the UK for a day of insightful keynote talks and topic tracks, as well as plentiful networking opportunities.

A recent Elastic study on global gen AI implementation found that 99 percent of respondents recognise the positive impacts gen AI can have on their organisation. In the UK, for example, the government has assembled an AI-focused team rapidly developing pilot programmes to improve services that directly impact taxpayers and citizens. Initiatives include reducing fraud and error in pharmacies, efficiently moving asylum claimants from hotels, and building a tool to summarise responses to government consultations. These programmes have the potential to save taxpayers billions of pounds, in addition to improving the overall health and well-being of UK citizens.

But at the same time, 89 percent of public sector respondents report that their use of generative AI is being slowed. In the UK, only 37 percent of government bodies surveyed by the National Audit Office (NAO) were actively using AI.

Public sector officials have a responsibility to guarantee that sensitive data remains protected and that their teams are not feeding their proprietary data directly into a publicly available generative AI application. Government officials and other public sector leaders have understandably been hesitant to implement generative AI without assurances of data privacy and responsible use.

In addition to security and privacy concerns, lack of modern data and IT strategies are slowing AI adoption in the public sector. The NAO report out of the UK found that “limited access to good-quality data was a barrier to implementing AI and central government support was important to address this.”

Building a strong data foundation and modernising legacy systems will take time and concerted action, which further challenges AI adoption.

So at a time when organisations are navigating AI implementations and seeking to understand how it can benefit their operations, Elastic’s Public Sector Summit will provide an opportunity to hear real world use cases from public sector organisations.

Experts will also reveal what tangible steps agencies can take to speed up their AI adoption and help citizens see the positive effects of AI more quickly. Plus, you’ll hear from Elastic’s own product experts on how their observability and security solutions are helping governments and education teams maximise value from huge amounts of data.

Register to attend Elastic’s free Public Sector Summit in London on September 25.