AI early adopters in the public sector

As one of the hottest technologies of recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) has started penetrating both the US public and the private sectors--though to differing degrees. While the private sector seems bullish on AI, the public sector's approach appears tempered with more caution--a Deloitte survey of select early adopters of AI shows high concern around the potential risks of AI among public sector organizations (see the sidebar "About the survey"). They give a peek into how public sector organizations are approaching AI; and how the approaches, in many cases, differ from those of their private sector counterparts. AI is not completely new to the public sector. The first AI contract was awarded in 1985 by the US Social Security Administration,1 but the technology still wasn't advanced enough to become common in the following decades.