{"id":102572,"date":"2025-08-28T17:49:16","date_gmt":"2025-08-28T17:49:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/102572\/"},"modified":"2025-08-28T17:49:16","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T17:49:16","slug":"how-ai-could-transform-the-way-public-servants-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/102572\/","title":{"rendered":"How AI could transform the way public servants work"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Mandarin and Liquid\u2019s recent survey, \u2018Let\u2019s get real about AI\u2019, reveals public servants are ready to work with AI tools. Of the 600 survey<\/a> respondents, 84% said they are personally ready to use AI at work.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So what\u2019s holding them back?\u00a0<\/p>\n

At The Mandarin\u2019s Building a Better Public Service conference in Brisbane last week, Nathan Bines, Queensland government\u2019s executive director of data and AI, and Stefan Hajkowicz, chief research consultant at CSIRO, discussed the barriers and opportunities of using AI in the public sector.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of desire, but people [are] looking for the structure and the support to know how to use AI,\u201d said Bines, who believes the state government is ensuring public servants understand the risks associated with AI use.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve all lent in and built risk assessment frameworks that allow people to assess the risks with AI,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve just got to use them and take a risk-based approach.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tEssential reading for Australia\u2019s public service.<\/p>\n

\n Stay ahead of policy shifts, leadership moves, and the big ideas shaping the public service. Sign up to The Mandarin\u2019s free newsletters. <\/p>\n

By continuing, you agree to our Terms & Conditions<\/a> and Privacy Policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Bines said it\u2019s time to ask: \u201cHow do we enable people? How do we give them the playbook?\u201d<\/p>\n

Hajkowicz said waiting for AI to be \u2018safe\u2019 isn\u2019t an option. Like any new technology, there is bound to be trial and error.<\/p>\n

Public servants are \u201ceager to use it\u201d, he said. \u201cThey\u2019re wanting to do it more. I think there is this urgency to start.<\/p>\n

\u201cAustralian governments are looking at using these models. They rightfully had concerns about data, privacy, confidentiality, safety and behaviour of these models, as they\u2019re managed offshore.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bines warned governments often hold onto mistakes as \u201can excuse not to innovate\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we\u2019ve learned a lot. There\u2019s been more than enough reports and inquiries\u2026we know what not to do,\u201d Bines said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Despite caution, there is an appetite for action. In The Mandarin\/Liquid survey<\/a>, 58% of respondents said they are willing to lead AI projects despite risks. But among frontline staff, four in five report feeling either unsupported or unprepared.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the risks of not doing it are greater. The risks of not creating value for your agency are greater,\u201d Hajkowicz said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is how we will contain budgets, make things efficient, deliver better services and policies. So yeah, the risk of not doing this is pretty big. I think the risk aversion culture in the public sector generally is more prevalent here than the AI technology.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hajkowicz said there is no other way forward for the public sector, especially as AI tools continue to get smarter.<\/p>\n

The survey shows that four of the top five referenced use cases for AI were operational, including things like reducing paperwork, improving workflow and alleviating day-to-day frustrations.<\/p>\n

Both speakers agreed that AI\u2019s potential is huge, but it must be applied wisely.<\/p>\n

\u201cDoing things that you couldn\u2019t do before\u201d is the point of AI tools, Bines said. But AI can only go so far. \u201cEvery problem has an AI solution in people\u2019s minds, because it\u2019s the first time they really get exposed to [this] technology.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bines said different issues need different tools, and we need to build on existing processes.<\/p>\n

\u201cLeveraging the platform we already had to focus on this distinct business problem. And that\u2019s really where the future is. It\u2019s about applying AI to distinct problems,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

According to our survey, few public servants think in terms of large-scale transformation, but Hajkowicz thinks we need to be open to AI\u2019s potential.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe journey we\u2019re on is about [the] transformation of how we do things,\u201d Hajkowicz said. \u201cLet\u2019s use all of the tech that we\u2019ve got today, data science, AI, digital technologies, tracing technologies in that sector, and let\u2019s rebuild.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said AI shouldn\u2019t be a band-aid solution but a way to transform productivity.<\/p>\n

\u201cSmart AI won\u2019t help a dumb organisation get better. It\u2019ll just do dumb stuff faster,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Looking ahead, Bines said AI is critical to modernising ageing systems.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ability to start building the new world, leveraging AI technology while the old systems are running. In some cases, it\u2019s going to be our only choice. We can\u2019t just recreate another monolithic system,\u201d Bines said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe benefit there is we\u2019ve got the opportunity to rethink how those systems deliver the services that they do. I think there\u2019s a great opportunity for generative AI to bring the capability to test and experiment and do things in new ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

Artificial intelligence can be beneficial for everyone, not just rich tech companies, Bines said. \u201cI think there\u2019s a big opportunity to bridge that [capability] gap\u201d, so the \u201cbenefits of this technology aren\u2019t concentrated at the top\u201d.<\/p>\n

Still, many public servants don\u2019t believe their workplaces are prepared to integrate AI. Almost 40% of survey respondents are personally ready to use AI but lack organisational backing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe onus is on departments and others to encourage and foster that,\u201d Bines said.<\/p>\n

Hajkowicz and Bine say the benefits will be worth it. \u201cThis is a possibility to really transform how we work and what we do,\u201d Hajkowicz said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Mandarin and Liquid\u2019s recent survey, \u2018Let\u2019s get real about AI\u2019, reveals public servants are ready to work…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":102573,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[256,74337,9455,254,255,64,63,17864,2458,74338,272,74339,5069,74340,1474,1871,74341,74342,3324,74343,74344,37650,38736,105,74345],"class_list":["post-102572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-ai-in-government","tag-ai-tools","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-automation","tag-data","tag-digital-technologies","tag-digital-transformation","tag-efficiency-in-government","tag-generative-ai","tag-government-technology","tag-innovation","tag-leadership","tag-modernising-systems","tag-organisational-change","tag-productivity","tag-public-sector-reform","tag-public-servants","tag-public-service","tag-risk-management","tag-technology","tag-workflow-efficiency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102572"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102572\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}