More public sector decisions are being made by AI—but what do people think?

Technological assistance is advancing and automated decision making is becoming increasingly common in the public sector—but what do people really think about this trend? A new study from the University of Södertörn in Sweden sheds light on this issue.

“Our analysis shows that people are generally not aware of their rights regarding how they contribute data for use in automated decision-making. However, people’s attitudes towards specific uses differed across countries in the study. varies greatly between: Estonia, Sweden and Germany,” says Anne Kaun, professor of media and communication studies.

Automated decision-making uses algorithms and artificial intelligence to make decisions that were previously made by administrators and other officials. For example, in Sweden, Strängnäs Municipality has worked on creating a linguistic model to help administrators prioritize reports of concern to social services.

trust gap

The study, recently published in Information, Communication and Society The magazine also shows that citizens of Estonia and Sweden are more positive than those of Germany when it comes to automation. According to Anne Kaun and her colleagues, Anders Olof Larsson and Anu Maso, this may be due to cultural differences between countries and differences in the level of people’s trust in authorities.

“Automation can lead to more efficient processes and lower costs, but it can also result in less transparency and less demand for accountability. When decisions are made by algorithms rather than people, the basis for decision-making can be difficult to understand.” is, and even people view the decision as unfair,” says Anne Kaun.

inform the public

Researchers feel a need to inform the public about issues related to automated decision making and to increase participation in these issues. Citizens should be informed about their rights when it comes to providing data to the system. They should also, say the researchers, have the opportunity to influence the design of the systems and how they are implemented.

“It is important that we look at not only the benefits of digitization, but also the challenges, even the disadvantages, of it,” she says.

The issue of how people approach these questions was recently highlighted during an event on sustainable AI, which examined how the EU can foster innovation in AI to help solve the climate crisis Could The participants were a combination of decision makers, technology developers and researchers, along with representatives of civil society, including the former Archbishop of Uppsala Antje Jacklen.

“Meetings like this demonstrate the importance of bringing together multiple perspectives on technology: from academia, politics and industry and, not least, from civil society. Finding a shared means of expression, however, is a challenge, as it is not stuck.” in very abstract discussions. My conclusion was that our research contributes to a perspective that is often forgotten, namely that of ordinary people and civil society, and – unfortunately – that in some contexts, this perspective It’s hard to give up,” concluded Kaun.

Provided by University of Södertörn