This book is an early warning to public officials, policymakers, and procurement practitioners on the impact of AI on the public sector. Many governments have established national AI strategies and set ambitious goals to incorporate AI into the public infrastructure, while lacking AI-specific procurement guidelines. AI is not traditional software, and traditional processes are not sufficient to meet the challenges AI brings. Today’s decisions to embed AI and algorithmic systems into public system infrastructure can – and will – have serious repercussions in the future.
The promise of AI systems is to make the public sector more efficient, effective, fair, and sustainable.
However, AI systems also bring new and emerging risks which can impact rights and freedoms. Therefore, guardrails are necessary to consider the socio-technical dimensions and impact on individuals, communities, and society at large.
It is crucial that public sector decision-makers understand the emerging risks of AI systems, the impact on the agency and the wider public infrastructure, and have the means to independently validate vendor claims. This book is a result of interviews with more than 20 public procurement professionals across countries, offering an in-depth analysis of the risks, incidents, governance practices, and emerging good practices around the world, and provides valuable procurement policy and process recommendations to address and mitigate these risks.
Merve Hickok is the founder of AIethicist.org. She is a globally renowned expert on AI policy, ethics and governance. Her work focuses on the impact of AI systems on individuals and society particularly the impact on fundamental rights, democratic values, and social justice. Her contributions and perspective have featured in The New York Times, Washington Post, Guardian, CNN, Forbes, Bloomberg, Wired, Scientific American, The Atlantic, Politico, Protocol, Vox, and The Economist. Merve is the President of Center for AI & Digital Policy (CAIDP), providing global AI policy expertise (U.S. federal government, European Commission, UNESCO, the Council of Europe, OECD). Merve is a policy expert, with testimony to the U.S. Congress, State of California, New York City and Detroit City Councils. At the University of Michigan, she is the data ethics lecturer at School of Information, the Responsible Data and AI Advisor at Michigan Institute for Data Science. She has been recognized by a number of organizations most recently with Lifetime Achievement Award Women in AI of the Year 2023, as Runner-up for Responsible AI Leader of the Year 2022, and as one of the 100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics 2021.
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