Using AI to Fast-Track Digital Transformation in Governments: Good or Bad?

EducationApril 25, 2025

In recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) has moved beyond the tech industry and is reshaping how governments operate and serve their citizens. From streamlining bureaucratic procedures to enhancing decision-making, AI is fast becoming a cornerstone of modern governance.

Governments around the world are under increasing pressure to deliver efficient, transparent, and citizen-friendly services. Traditional processes — often manual, paper-based, and time-consuming — have long been a barrier to achieving these goals. AI is helping to break down these barriers, enabling smarter, faster, and more scalable solutions.

Automating Administrative Workflows

One of the most immediate applications of AI in government is the automation of routine administrative tasks. Chatbots and virtual assistants are already handling common citizen queries in areas like tax, social services, and immigration, reducing the burden on human staff and cutting down wait times.

For instance, Estonia, a global leader in digital governance, has integrated AI-driven systems into public administration to process everything from business registrations to digital identity services — often within minutes rather than days.

Enhancing Decision-Making

AI also empowers governments to analyze vast amounts of data in real-time, offering predictive insights that can lead to better policy decisions. Whether it’s forecasting traffic congestion, predicting economic trends, or anticipating public health needs, AI-driven models are enabling faster and more informed responses.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries adopted AI systems to track virus transmission, optimize vaccine distribution, and even predict future outbreaks, allowing policymakers to act more swiftly and effectively.

Improving Public Safety and Security

AI-powered surveillance systems, anomaly detection, and cybersecurity tools are helping law enforcement and national security agencies to prevent crimes and respond to emergencies more efficiently. Governments are using AI to monitor financial fraud, detect cyberattacks, and even manage natural disaster response through real-time data interpretation.

Challenges and Ethical Considerations

Despite its promise, the adoption of AI by governments comes with significant ethical considerations. Questions surrounding data privacy, algorithmic bias, and transparency must be carefully addressed to maintain public trust.

Forward-thinking governments are pairing technological advancement with regulatory oversight, ensuring that AI systems are not only efficient but also fair and accountable.

The UK Case

Although automating data that’s related to the government can be tricky, that’s exactly what the former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, founder of the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, thinks it’s needed. But why?

Earlier this year, the UK government announced that it would heavily invest in AI and its development. The government’s Department for Science, Innovation and Technology will be responsible for the “new digital centre of government”, focused on scanning for innovative projects to implement in public services and see if they can be expanded to other sectors. AI-related objectives include having Vantage Data Centres build one of Europe’s largest data centre campuses in Wales, the establishment of an AI Energy Council chaired by the Science and Energy Secretaries, the construction of the first AI growth zone in Oxfordshire, and a major project called the National Data Library. This is what Tony Blair stands by, arguing that “the NDL will establish a clear, secure way to access linked data sets, supporting AI innovation, better policymaking and research that drives economic growth.”

Gathering all the necessary information from citizens, their needs, and public services might sound like a great idea, but there are major security concerns that have to be addressed. If all the information from every citizen is available on one platform, what happens if that platform is hacked? Yes, you guessed right: information can get lost or stolen.

But that’s not the only concern. Governments abusing power isn’t news. Allowing powerful figures to have easy access to such amounts of data sets the precedent for the misuse of information. It will be easier than ever to track every move of the country’s citizens. As The Sociable’s editor, Tim Hinchliffe says, “one could argue that the creation of a National Data Library could give the government unfettered access into the private life of every individual while paving the way for a complete surveillance state that uses the data to incentivize, coerce, or otherwise manipulate human behavior into compliance”.

How automating systems can lead to inequality

There’s also the question of how automating public service systems can affect entire societies, and especially poorer communities. In her book Automating Inequality, Virginia Eubanks makes a really good argument supporting exactly that. The writer argues that the algorithms and automated systems used aren’t objective because they suffer from the bias of those who created them. She also concludes that these systems are mostly activated for surveillance and punishment rather than for assistance.

The author highlights the concept of “digital poorhouse”, which has its origins in the 1800s poorhouses, buildings where the less fortunate had to live to receive help from the State — this allowed the government to decide who was deserving of assistance and who wasn’t. Eubanks argues that the same happens today with digital systems like welfare eligibility algorithms, predictive risk models, and surveillance databases. Access to aid is only possible after circumventing several obstacles, and gives way to easily monitor the financial lives of the less privileged, which is a form of digital segregation.

In a way, what Eubanks and some scholars defend is that it isn’t really about tech usage, but more about power and how technology is being leveraged to enforce said power. In a way, automating systems and processes isn’t the solution for a fairer and more balanced society, but rather a way to keep societal discrepancies in digital form.

The Road Ahead

AI is helping governments worldwide reimagine public services — making them faster, smarter, and more accessible. As technology continues to evolve, the public sector’s ability to deliver proactive, data-driven solutions grows stronger. AI has developed immensely since it first appeared, and as we can see, it can be a powerful ally in creating more efficient and responsive structures, ultimately improving the quality of life.

However, while these technologies are often introduced in the name of efficiency and fairness, they can also lead to the disproportionate surveillance, profiling, and punishment of poor and marginalized communities. Moreover, when such systems are hacked or breached, the consequences can be devastating for individuals who are already vulnerable, exposing them to identity theft, financial exploitation, and further social harm. The centralization of this data in automated platforms creates attractive targets for cyberattacks.

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