Google has collaborated on projects in each of Hammerschmid’s categories. For example, the Département du Var in southern France collaborates with Google Cloud on a number of AI use cases like a website chatbot and a survey chatbot as well as automated transcription of council meetings. The Italian provincial capital Padua created a Google-powered AI voicebot to answer residents’ queries about local air pollution levels. By implementing the voicebot, the team saves 20 hours per week, with 96% of customer queries being resolved successfully. Westminster City Council in London, in partnership with Google Cloud and service provider Ancoris, has built a platform for citizens to report dumped waste and request street cleaning. The system showed 86% accuracy in automatically categorising issues.
However, harnessing the full potential of AI for public good requires a thoughtful regulatory framework. The EU’s Artificial Intelligence Act that came into force on 1 August 2024 is a key part of that regulatory environment in Europe. With the law now in the implementation phase, it will be critical to ensure that it strikes the right balance between increasing trust and ensuring innovation, including enabling rather than stifling adoption of AI by the public sector.
»I think it’s a fair worry,« says Richard Stirling, who in 2016 founded Oxford Insights, a British consultancy focused on AI adoption in the public sector. Yet Stirling points out that fears of Europe falling behind were already expressed when, in 2018, the General Data Protection Act and, in 2022, the Digital Services Act were implemented. »In both cases, what happened was the rest of the world started to follow the European Union’s lead.« That said, Stirling can also imagine that the EU AI Act could cause the EU being »treated like a second-class citizen« when it comes to rolling out AI services: »You can actually see this happening already,« he warns.
Well positioned for AI adoption
Oxford Insights annually publishes the »Government AI readiness index«, which analyses the ability of governments to harness AI. According to the latest report, European governments are well positioned for AI adoption. Western Europe ranks globally as number 2 in readiness, with an average score of 69.5, and Eastern Europe as number 4, with an average score of 57.88. This compares to an average score of 82.6 for the leading region, North America. In the national ranking, the US leads with a score of 87.03, but Western European countries dominate the top ten: France, the UK, the Netherlands, Germany and Finland.
This might seem surprising given the public perception that European countries trail the US, China and others when it comes to artificial intelligence. Stirling, who is also a »UNESCO AI Expert Without Borders«, refers to the analytical framework of his report to explain the seeming contradiction. While Western European countries tend to score well on aspects such as governmental strategic vision, regulation, IT infrastructure and flexibility to adapt, the European private sector is clearly at a disadvantage compared with that in the US.
»There’s a real opportunity in Europe to support our private sector innovation,« Stirling argues. He points to the lack of a big venture capital market as one of the root causes for the US’s lead: »Europe doesn’t have a good way for bringing capital towards large speculative bets, not like what Silicon Valley does,« Stirling says.
Still, Stirling is convinced that many European countries have already taken important steps to successfully implement AI into government processes. »The European Commission has been investing in data infrastructure across member states for more than ten years,« he says. He thinks that, going forward, rethinking procurement could play a crucial role. »There’s a rule that says you can’t talk about technology in government without talking about procurement rules. We have to design procurement systems that are flexible enough to harness the pace of change within technology.«
When it comes to designing a successful roadmap for AI adoption, Professor Hammerschmid thinks that hiring the right people will play a crucial role: »We need to bring people in who are enthusiastic about using them, and have implemented such projects in the private sector.« He also recommends focusing on small flagship projects and open-source solutions. »Once it works, you can scale these solutions and, ideally, share them all over Europe.«