Artificial intelligence, opportunity for public employment in America

As technology advances in developed countries, the specter of job substitution due to artificial intelligence (AI) and automation gradually fades away, and the opportunities that can be exploited in both the public and private sectors become evident. the private.

AI has the potential to transform the way governments operate and engage with citizens. A study carried out by CAF – development bank of Latin America – highlights three possible effects: the possibility of extending the work of public organizations by processing large amounts of data in a very short time; the optimization of work, since AI, by performing repetitive tasks, frees up workers’ time and contributes to improving quality, reducing costs and accelerating processes; and finally value expansion or doing things differently to get the most benefit from people and machines.

“The evaluation carried out to measure the degree of preparation for the adoption of AI in the public sector led to the conclusion that the three countries analyzed have an intermediate level (Chile 42 percent, Colombia 57 percent, and Uruguay 54 percent). ). All of them present significant advances in the development of favorable policy environments for the adoption of AI in public employment. The biggest challenges are in the components of estimating the expected impact of AI on public employment; the revision of the structures and roles of the State; the diagnosis and development of skills for AI and the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) in public servants, and strategies for organizational cultural change in the State”, said Guillermo Cruz Alemán, author of the report.

The most advanced in terms of strategies to prepare the public sector workforce for the implementation of AI and 4RI are the United States and the United Kingdom. The Government of the United States has launched relevant actions, such as the definition of a national plan for training the workforce for the 21st century, while the United Kingdom has a digital academy for the development of digital skills of civil servants as well as with a program to accelerate data science projects within the government.

An analysis of the percentage of time of public officials in the United States that could potentially be affected by AI, shows that between 20 percent and 45 percent of workers’ time is dedicated to tasks that could be automated, while that between 45 percent and 60 percent of their time is spent on tasks that could be supplemented by technology. In Latin America, 30 percent of the workforce of public administrations works in occupations with a high risk of substitution.

The skills development strategies for AI/4RI recommended in the CAF report are classified according to three approaches and different profiles of public servants: i) retraining (reskilling) aimed at employees whose tasks may be replaced by automation or AI; ii) the updating of skills (upskilling) for AI or IT specialists, non-specialist users, managers and other workers of the entities with personalized content according to the respective profiles; and (iii) the recruitment of new employees with the hard and soft skills required by governments.

“AI has high disruptive potential to reset public administrations in the digital age. At CAF, we promote digital modernization to promote more agile, open and innovative governments, which are supported by new technologies and data intelligence and foster improvements in the efficiency of administrations and in the quality of services for citizens,” he stated. Antonio Silveira, Manager of Physical Infrastructure and Digital Transformation at CAF.

The acceleration of technological adoption due to the pandemic should not be lost, so the challenge for public administrations will be to empower their workers to learn and apply the new skills required in this new environment, which will allow them to be equipped to operate in a increasingly digital and automated world.