Almost half a million public sector workers could stand to lose their jobs to robots over the next 15 years.
According to a new report, published by think tank Reform, artificially intelligent machines could help cut billions of pounds and drive efficiency across the public sector.
The report says that today’s workforce is built around siloed attitudes of “yesterday’s governments” and fails to embrace tech and new ways of working to meet users’ needs efficiently.
A traditional way of thinking, it adds, fails to foster a culture of change. “Mistakes are covered up, risk-aversion is rife and leaders have not built the workforce around the needs of users,” notes the report, adding:
“A new approach is needed. Public services should deliver outcomes that matter to users, and meet expectations of interacting via technology.”
According to the research, AI could be used to improve the way in which decisions are made, but also to understand the factors behind mistakes that cause 10% of hospital patients to suffer from medical errors.
Although the report recognises AI as a significant driver of change it argues that in order for this new technology to succeed, it’s essential to hire the right people.
“New recruitment practices, such as increasing apprenticeships and using ‘gig’-economy platforms to better organise workers can inject innovation into service delivery. In short, this is a framework to make twenty-first century services fit for twenty-first century citizens,” says the report.
Looking to the future, the paper says that a less hierarchical model, which exploits technological advances, will allow managers to develop a leaner and better performing workforce.
But the reduction of jobs, the report concludes, must be done strategically.