‘I think people’: AI, policy, public good

‘It is also too easy to think of technology, such as AI, as being impersonal, alienating, or distant. But the first thing I think about when it comes to AI is people.’ (Peter Kyle MP, Secretary of State for DSIT, Technology in Public Services debate on 2nd September 2024).

Including everyone in the conversation of AI and digital

As I listen to the latest episode of Digital Futures for Good on AI, thinking about people and empowerment comes up repeatedly in the expert contributions from Nina Shick, Helen Milner, Jess Wilson and Kirsty Innes. The need for both a bottom up and a top down approach to AI - and a focus on outcomes - came through strongly in their conversations.

I’ll take their thoughts into next week’s fringe event at Labour Party Conference on ‘Digital and AI inequalities’ (no pass needed). And as I celebrate the good news that Accenture has joined our Strategic Partnership to Fix the Digital Divide, with a focus on AI literacies, and ensuring we don’t leave digitally excluded people even further behind.

We can expect more debate on AI, public good, public trust, and public policy making. As Labour Together’s Kirsty Innes commented: ‘this is the most digitally literate group of MPs we’ve ever had’. So with party conferences underway, I hope MPs, advisers, public servants, and civil society influencers find a moment to digest some of these excellent contributions: 

Research, policy, insights on AI and the digital divide

• Dig into the rich insights from communities and grassroots organisations in these two research reports - Good Things Australia’s Digital Sisters AI for Good research, and We&AI’s report on grassroots and non-profit perspectives on gen AI 
• Catch up on how AI is being used in experiments across Whitehall in this short, informative read from the Institute for Government on Whitehall and AI
• Listen to the views of leading advocates for inclusion and empowerment in our digital world, as Nina Shick, Helen Milner, Jess Wilson, and Kirsty Innes share their thoughts in Episode Six of Digital Futures for Good
• Dive into JRF’s essays on AI and public policy making expertly curated by Yasmin Ibison. I warmed to Will Moy’s optimism, connected with the balanced analysis of Imogen Parker and Dr Maria Pérez-Ortiz, and was struck by Dan MacQuillan’s critique, well founded on scandals in mis/use of AI in public services in Australia and the Netherlands - scandals which caused harm, even deaths, and undermined trust. 

'Think people,' think digital inclusion

This called me back to Rachel Coldicutt’s warning (when Good Things first convened community and civil society organisations on AI) that it will be in disadvantaged communities where any harmful impacts of Ai-enabled services are felt first and hardest.

So yes. We need to ‘think people’. We need to listen to people. Most importantly, we need to work out what outcomes we want for public policy making, public services, and public good. And that’s a tougher and more pressing challenge than the data and technology itself.