Oliver Dowden – 2024 Speech on AI for Public Good

The speech made by Oliver Dowden, the Deputy Prime Minister, at Imperial College on London on 29 February 2024.

INTRODUCTION

Ladies and gentlemen…

The story of technological advancement is one of constant evolution…

… punctuated by game-changing innovations.

In my lifetime, the personal computer, the internet, the smart phone, have all made the tech world – and our interaction with it – unrecognisable.

And they have all – in turn – transformed the way that citizens interact with government, and with public services.

I believe another such game-changer has arrived…

… in the form of transformative AI models – including Large Language Models – that enable computers and humans to interact in totally new ways.

The last fourteen years has been a period of incremental tech improvements.

The digital interfaces we use are largely recognisable.

Yes – we have seized new opportunities…

… such as rolling out gov.uk…

… and making our services “digital by default”.

But many of the systems that we use have not kept up with advances…

… indeed some of them, I’m afraid to say, have not moved on at all.

Modern AI has the potential to fundamentally change the way that public services operate within just a few short years.

Indeed, if we are still working off the same systems – and in the same way – in another 14 years… or even frankly another two or three…

…then we will have failed to embrace the opportunity that now lies before us.

OPPORTUNITY

And so, just as the UK is leading the world in the field of AI safety…

… the Prime Minister has asked me to ensure we are leading the world in the adoption of AI across our public sector.

The opportunity here is hard to put a value on…

… although I notice the IPPR have estimated that there is the potential to save £24 billion each year from roll-out of these new technologies.

So for me it’s only by the rapid adoption of AI that we will drive the savings needed to put us on a sustainable path to a smaller state and better delivery of services.

The pace of change is such that new opportunities are being uncovered literally on a daily basis, and a new world is opening out before us…

AI is potentially – and I don’t say this lightly – a ‘silver bullet’…

… it dangles before us the prospect of increased productivity, vast efficiency savings, and improved services.

We are already beginning to see glimpses of what these tools have to offer…

… and so I’d like to paint a brief picture of what the world might look like if we get this right:

VISION OF SUCCESS

In healthcare – AI diagnostic tools could transform primary care…

…with appointments transcribed in real time by ambient AI, then instantly producing prescriptions and referrals…

…  scans read by AI with far greater accuracy …

… and medicines tailored to individuals based on their genetics – again using AI.

In education – … AI could help eliminate excessive paperwork …

…freeing-up teacher time to focus on what they do best…

…AI assistants could help teachers to adapt lessons to the specific needs of each pupil…

… and AI-augmented reality can take interactive learning to another level.

In crime prevention – AI can direct police to where they are most needed…

… spot patterns of criminality to discover culprits quicker than ever…

…and help keep the streets safer for everyone.

And in all kinds of public sector casework – from immigration processing to benefit claims – AI can be used to summarise complex information…

… enabling expert case-workers to spend more time actually making decisions.

I could go on nearly forever to cover all areas of public administration…

… because there are very few areas of the public sector that don’t have the potential to be enhanced by these tools.

HOW DO WE GET THERE?

The question, though, is how do we get there?

I believe the measures we are bringing forward put in the structures, resources, and mindset…

… to put the UK on the fastest path to successful adoption of public sector AI.

Taking advantage of our unique strengths…

… to revolutionise public services for everyone in the months and years ahead.

Last year, I established a small team of data scientists, engineers and machine learning experts at the heart of Government – the Incubator for AI – or ‘i.AI’ – under the energetic leadership of Dr Laura Gilbert.

The idea of these experts was to work with departments to target the biggest opportunities to both save money and deliver better public services.

The quality of applicants for this program has been phenomenal.

It is incredibly exciting to see such talented technical people choosing to enter public service…

… bringing in new ideas to help change the way government delivers services.

In a few short months this team of just 30 individuals have instigated 10 pilot programs, including…

• AI to flag fraud and error in pharmacies – that costs the taxpayer £1 billion every single year.
• A tool that will read and summarise responses to Government consultations, this says something about the scale of Government consultations, but this could save up to £80 million a year in central government alone…
• And AI algorithms to help move asylum claimants out of hotels more efficiently… helping to save further millions.

And I can also announce our intention to roll out a new gov.uk chatbot that will provide an interactive interface for people to better navigate Government information and services.

But this is clearly just the very start…

…I want to ensure that – where these pilots have proof of concept – we can scale them up as fast as possible…

i.AI scale-up

…And so, I can announce today that we will more than double the size of i.AI – to 70 people – recruiting the very best of British talent to drive this work across the public sector.

This unprecedented influx of cutting-edge expertise into Government will enable us to design, build and – crucially – implement AI swiftly and at scale…

Of course, there is still a huge role for the private sector – and I welcome the collaboration that we have with so many of the businesses in this room today.

Nothing will match the strength and depth of the private sector AI innovation that is happening right now – and as all of you know so much of it here in the UK.

But I believe that by embedding experts at the heart of Government…

… and upskilling public servants to utilise these tools…

…we will set ourselves up to deliver the benefits to citizens as quickly – and as efficiently – as possible.

HORIZONTALS

The other reason it is so important to have this team at the centre of Government is to ensure that – as AI rolls-out across the public sector – we adhere to the following principles:

… sharing best practice…

…deploying individual models to multiple use-cases…

… finding economies of scale..

… and, crucially, ensuring interoperability.

Although I don’t claim for the moment to have the expertise needed to actually build AI models…

… I can see that – like so many great inventions – there is something beautifully simple about what they are actually doing.

Indeed, when you boil it down, I think there are four ways AI can be applied to much of public sector activity…

… spotting patterns of fraud and error;

… helping the public to navigate services;

… managing casework;

… and automating internal processes.

And so the i.AI team have been looking across these applications with those principles in mind…

… And I have agreed with the Treasury that we will make all funding for Government AI projects contingent on departments collaborating with i.AI.

Never again should we be investing money in IT systems without considering how to make them as efficient and interoperable as possible…

… or without robustly challenging both the timelines and the costs to deliver better value.

I want to ensure that where we develop a tool for one department – we are considering where else it could be deployed.

MINISTERIAL FORUM

And do to facilitate this discussion…

…to ensure departments are fully integrated into this cross-government effort…

… we need a regular dialogue between all those involved across government.

And so I am convening a meeting of the National Science and Technology Council on AI for public sector good …

… alongside my Co-Chair, Michelle Donelan – our fantastic Secretary of State for Science and Technology.

Every department has now designated a specific minister to be responsible for AI in their area…

… and I have asked for them to meet on a regular basis.

In the Cabinet Office, this work will be led by Minister Burghart…

… and I want to thank him for the passion, purpose and drive that he has brought to the programme so far, as is often the case when you run a department you get to stand up and make the announcements, but actually Minister Burghart who has actually done the work to bring Government together to do this.

WIDER PUBLIC SECTOR JOIN-UP

Of course, central Government can only take this work so far…

To truly maximise the benefits on offer we need to work with bodies and agencies right across the public sector.

And so I am delighted to announce today that i.AI will sign a ‘Collaboration Charter’ with NHS England.

This first-of-a-kind initiative will provide a framework for our experts in the incubator to support the NHS to identify and deploy AI solutions that improve services for patients.

And I would urge other public sector bodies to consider doing exactly the same thing, I think it can bring enormous benefits

RESOURCING

There is no shortage in the Government’s ambition to use AI for public good.

We have put the expertise and the structures in place…

… and we are making progress on our early pilot projects…

…but we also appreciate the investment that will be needed to make good on our ambition to see the UK leading the pack.

And crucially, investment will be required both to improve services and cut costs…

But also to pave the way for a leaner public sector.

MITIGATING RISK

Through all of this, we are conscious of the need to guard against the risks that have rightly been flagged.

And, while every effort will be made to eliminate bias, misinformation, and hallucinations…

… ultimately, we are very clear about the need for human oversight…

… and a clear distinction between AI suggestions and support on the one hand…

…and human decision making on the other.

CONCLUSION

I believe we can take the worst things about public services…

…whether that’s the time-wasting, form-filling, pencil-pushing, computer-says-no, the mind-numbing-ness of it…

… and the kinds of things that make us want to tear our hair out…

We can take those things and we can turn them around with the help of AI.

This is not about replacing real people with robots…

…it is about removing spirit-sapping, time-wasting admin and bureaucracy…

…freeing public servants to do the important work that they do best…

… and saving taxpayers billions of pounds in the process.

We’ve got the political will. We’ve got the world-class civil service. We have the big data. We have the tech companies.

We are ready.

So let’s not wait.

Let’s lead the way…

…and join me in the AI revolution today.