Public sector’s GenAI hesitation: Forrester

Insights from Forrester have found various challenges have slowed generative AI adoption across public sectors.

Forrester’s ‘The State Of Generative AI In The Public Sector, 2024’ report detailed the uptake in the public sector in the US, UK, and Australia.

In Australia, the private sector is taking a more aggressive approach to AI adoption with the report stating 70 percent are using the technology for both customer-facing and internal use cases.

However, the report found “public sector leaders need to ensure that customer-facing use cases avoid unintended consequences from poorly executed AI — especially those that might erode the public’s already fragile trust in institutions and government.”

The report pointed to the disastrous Robodebt scheme which saw citizens incorrectly charged due to a flawed algorithmic decision-making system.

Findings also show benefits of the technology might be found in use cases with innovation (51 percent), cost efficiencies (49 percent), and productivity (42 percent) as key benefits. 

In the findings, 42 percent noted difficulty mixing generative AI with existing infrastructure and 33 percent said that both governance and risk challenges plus skillsets were barriers to the uptake.

Forrester principal analyst Sam Higgins said, “Challenges have slowed generative AI adoption, but public sector leaders can make progress by adopting and deploying generative AI internally for employee use, increasing familiarity with the technology, and identifying possible pitfalls and failures in a low-stakes environment.

“Once your institution has gained familiarity with the technology, you can begin to slowly and gradually release it to user-facing services, while constantly monitoring feedback and implementing safeguards.

“To effectively harness generative AI, it is also crucial for public institutions to foster employee and customer trust,” Sam Higgins said.

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