Gavin Liu, G11, BASIS International School Shenzhen

Five months after OpenAI launched ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot last November, the Yokosuka City government in Japan allowed its employees to use the tool for such tasks as proofreading files and creating ideas. It allows them to focus less on repetitive tasks and spend more time on jobs that can and should only be done by humans. The Yokosuka government also ensures that no confidential or personal information is entered into ChatGPT, and they use the technology only for tasks that do not involve decision making.

AI has superb efficiency in processing and analyzing data. As early as in 2020, the U.S. defense startup Palantir Technologies won a US$91 million contract to develop AI and machine learning products for the U.S. Army Research Laboratory, with the ability to process data to spot risks and transform disparate data sets into a single, coherent data asset.

Another successful case in the adoption of AI tools in the public sector is the application of Smart Human-Resource Services (SmartHS) in three cities in East China. Shandong University researchers designed the online service platform in collaboration with local tech company Dareway Software, which streamlined the administrative process and handled 2.92 million social insurance cases within one year in Dongying, Weihai and Yantai after the system was inducted in 2015, hugely enhancing proficiency. AI systems have reduced the workload of civil servants and better served their citizens.

AI chatbots such as ChatGPT are an invention of the private sector and it is there that this mind-blowing tech is finding its most eager adopters. A survey conducted by Forbes of 600 business owners who are using or plan to use AI in the future found that over half used some form of AI to improve productivity and efficiency, with 97% believing that chatbots would be beneficial to their businesses. The report published in April says AI is primarily used in cybersecurity, fraud management, and customer service.

It is almost certain that AI will have increased presence in the private sector in the future.

Despite the benefits of AI, governments need to exert caution and address several concerns while implementing AI. First, human supervision is necessary to avoid inaccurate or biased information.

Then, privacy of citizens needs be protected. Governments can take steps toward ensuring that AI is trustworthy, ethical, and accountable by improving human oversight. They have to make sure that citizens can always reach the accountable person if needed.

Jason Furman, a professor of economics at the Harvard Kennedy School, proposed that instead of creating overarching regulation for the entire technology, the regulation of AI should proceed sector by sector. Adopting such an approach would help ensure AI technology evolves in a manner that best serves specific purposes.