If you’re tapped into any tech circles online - or even if you aren’t - it’s hard to scroll for more than 10 seconds without seeing something about data and AI. While there is definitely a healthy dose of hype to be found out there, PUBLIC shares a genuine enthusiasm for the huge potential data and AI can present across the public sector. AI isn’t going anywhere, and we want to do our part to support an informed, useful and grounded public conversation about how we best engage with these new technologies in a responsible and practical way - ultimately to serve the mission of building better public services. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be sharing more of our ideas, perspectives and approaches that inform the work we are doing across our fast-growing Data & AI (DAI) practice. We’re keen to spark new, meaningful discussions and co-develop novel ideas around these topics, so please do engage with our team along the way.

Unlocking the power of data is nothing new to us, long being one of our core expertise areas in helping public sector clients transform their services. From the Better Outcomes through Linked Data (BOLD) project, where we worked collaboratively with the UK Ministry of Justice (MOJ) to help establish evidence for how people with complex needs can be better supported by linking together government information in a safe and secure way, to our work with the Joint Intelligence Organisation (JIO) in Cabinet Office to design INDEX, a digital platform to support intelligence officials to securely share, tag and comment on OSINT data across departments - helping public sector organisations capture new opportunities through the strategic use of data is our bread and butter.

We’re doubling down across this expertise area, building out our DAI practice across PUBLIC to bring our in-house technical capabilities, public sector knowledge and tested methodologies to more organisations across the public sector - solving old problems with new, powerful tools. AI is often made out to be exceedingly complex and therefore inaccessible to non-technical experts. This is a myth we’re committed to dispelling - with the right understanding of how AI can be applied within organisations of all shapes and sizes, leaders across the public sector (both digital and non-digital) can make huge impacts on efficiency, cost-effectiveness and quality of service delivery for citizens.

Led by Thomas Chalk (Director of Data & AI) and Mahlet Yared (Lead, Data Services), our DAI team is working across a range of key areas where we’ve identified opportunities to make real impacts on how public sector organisations think about and ultimately leverage AI technologies. Below, we’ve highlighted five of these areas we’re currently working across to help both governments and innovators best capture the opportunities data & AI present, while addressing head-on the real challenges around responsible use, new tech adoption, change management and regulation.

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Responsible AI

As both ethical and regulatory frameworks rapidly evolve to keep up with the pace of AI development, we’re working diligently with organisations to help them understand their ethics maturity, identify gaps and embed a durable plan to manage their responsibility over time.

‍GenAI

As is the case with any disruptive technology, the first step for any organisation is to understand their use cases - as an expert partner we help identify use cases to then empower organisations to rapidly deliver pilots and establish value.

MDM & Governance

Surrounded by an ever-changing technological and regulatory landscape, it is critical for organisations of all types to embed a robust master data management strategy (MDM) - we leverage our data strategy expertise alongside digital tools to help orgs do this, and do it right.

Rapid App Dev

Across the public sector, organisations have unique needs that require unique solutions - we rapidly build bespoke data applications focused on reporting and predictive analytics to help organisations turn insight into intelligence in real-time.

AI Marketplace

The importance of bridging the gap between government and the startup marketplace is amplified in the context of the transformative power of AI. We’ve built an unmatched startup ecosystem allowing us to deploy and scale best-in-class AI solutions to the public sector’s front door.

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We’re currently working full steam ahead across these areas and are keen to engage with our network on these topics. If you have reactions, ideas or just want to chat with a fellow DAI enthusiast, feel free to drop Thomas (thomas.chalk@public.io) or Mahlet (mahlet@public.io) a message!