What lies behind the AI hype for governments?

So much debate still rages about Artificial Intelligence (AI) and what it means for the future of society and humanity. While this continues, governments around the world are actively embracing the prospect of transforming their departments into smart digital governments that are able to deliver improved services to organisations and life-enhancing services to and resources to citizens who really need them. And do so in more collaborative, joined up ways that rely on sharing information and insights. Layer on the prospect of being able to do so at significantly lower cost and with greater operational efficiency; it's no wonder that the prospect of AI is irresistible. Rightly so, for we can already see just how disruptive a force AI has been in the commercial sector: in retail (with Alibaba and Amazon), in transport (with Uber), in entertainment (with Netflix) and thousands more applications.