The public sector in the UK has been grappling with the challenge of “doing more with less” for four decades. With high demand, squeezed budgets, and stretched resources, the sector is now turning its gaze towards Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a potential solution.
AI’s advances offer immense potential for the public sector to revolutionise its interaction with residents. From simple productivity gains to more complex applications like managing contact centre calls, preparing case notes, or analysing images to remove graffiti, AI has shown promising use cases. The question now is, how do we turn these ideas into reality?
The answer lies in skilling. To harness these technologies, organisations must seize skilling opportunities and foster a culture of continuous learning. With a fully skilled and engaged public sector, we can build AI systems that are safe, effective, and fair for everyone.
The Skilling Opportunity
Digitisation has significantly improved the working lives of employees and made services more accessible for residents over the past four decades. The recent breakthrough of workplace-ready AI promises another leap in capabilities. But how can government organisations keep up? And why now?
Local and Regional Government aspire to skill their residents and employees, invest in infrastructure, and create inclusive economic growth. However, delivering these goals presents challenges: services are in high demand, social care costs are continually rising, and recruitment for digital roles remains challenging.
AI offers enormous potential here because it can enhance productivity and reduce ‘digital debt’, the time lost to the constant flow of data, emails, meetings, and notifications that hinders the creative work of organisations. Our work with the public sector has already demonstrated the benefits. However, AI won’t simply “fix” work — leaders will need to help employees learn to use it effectively and responsibly to reap the benefits. Therefore, comprehensive skilling in AI should be a primary focus.
A Culture of Learning Can Make AI a Success
AI is more than just another digital technology that government organisations need to learn. Building skills in AI promises to unlock a vast range of other benefits and even compensate for skill gaps in other areas.
Encouraging a culture that embraces continuous learning will be essential to maximise the benefits. Teams may face a learning curve while adapting to new features, so training and support will be required to help employees feel comfortable using tools effectively.
Investing in learning is crucial for making the most of AI. This means allowing people the time to become familiar with the technology and to experiment with it as it develops. This empowerment must come from the top, meaning leaders must be the initial drivers of change. But it can then become a virtuous circle. Microsoft research indicates that over three-quarters of employees would be more inclined to remain at a job if they were given more opportunities for learning and development.
AI can help support this learning culture. It can help leaders across local authorities to understand their skill gaps and provide the necessary training to fill them. With AI and a culture of continuous learning, the public sector can look forward to a future of increased productivity and improved service delivery.
Microsoft’s guide, “Building skills for an AI-enabled public sector,” aims to help government leaders understand AI’s potential and build the sector’s AI skills to benefit employees and citizens. We also provide a wide range of AI learning opportunities, many at no cost, to ensure no one is left behind in the AI revolution.
To find out more about Building Skills for an AI-enabled public sector here.