Artificial Intelligence Strategy

Artificial Intelligence, or AI, is intelligent technology, programs and the use of advanced computing algorithms that can augment decision making by identifying meaningful patterns in data. Artificial Intelligence in this context should aim to help the NSW Government free up our workforce for critical and frontline tasks, cut costs and enable us to deliver better, more targeted services.

AI has the capacity to quickly process large amounts of data and provide data-driven insights, supporting problem solving and decision making to maximise efficiency and service delivery.

AI is already here and embedded in many parts of our society, in our households, businesses and governments. The banking sector has used AI to detect fraud and alert customers to suspicious activity for some time, and AI is increasingly used in marketing campaigns and tailored communications.

AI provides us with significant potential to transform society and the economy. AI will impact all sectors of the global and Australian economy, help businesses grow and create new revenue streams, and enable us to solve some of our most complex challenges.

However, because of the speed of technological evolution, the need to meet the highest privacy standards and to address ethical considerations, AI also presents new challenges. These include biases that AI can perpetuate when datasets are used without close examination, the legal complexities of AI being used to assist in decision-making, and the ability of certain AI technologies to self-learn.

For these reasons, AI needs to be developed responsibly and with clear outcomes focus so that the community has trust that the technology is being used appropriately, that any unintended consequences are avoided or remedied quickly and effectively.

The NSW Government AI Policy and Assurance Framework provide clear guidance on the safe use of AI, finding the balance between opportunity and risk, while putting in place those protections that would apply for any service delivery solution.

AI is already being used across Government to deliver great results for our customers. We should be ready to step-up use of emerging technologies where they have the potential to significantly improve service delivery and government decision-making.

Credit

This resource includes material provided by, and licensed to, the Gradient Institute which is licensed by the institute under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence