‘Not objective’: Expert warning as countries adopt AI in government

After a European nation appointed an AI-generated minister to a portfolio, one Australian state announced plans to use AI to tackle the very same issue.

An AI expert has warned the technology is not ‘objective’, as one Australian state follows in the footsteps of a European nation which has appointed an AI minister.

The NSW government announced on Monday it is set to use “AI systems” to identify and stamp out potential cartel behaviour in government procurement.

Earlier in September, Albania was the first country in the world to appoint an AI minister for the very same reason.

Enio Kaso, head of the Department of Artificial Intelligence and Cryptocurrency Licensing shows the AI ‘minister’ Diella. Picture: AP Photo/Vlasov Sulaj

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said the AI minister, Diella, would create “a country where public tenders are 100 per cent free of corruption”.

AI expert and associate professor at Leiden University, Peter van der Putten, said the technology can have “bias creep in” and warned against “over-anthropomorphising the AI”.

“There’s many ways these systems are not objective,” he said.

“They’re not some mythical extraterrestrial AI that’s landed upon us, these are systems that are made by people.

AI expert Peter van der Putten. Picture: Supplied

Albania’s new AI-generated minister addressed parliament for the first time on September 18, defending its role as ‘not here to replace people, but to help them’. Picture: Adnan Beci / AFP

“The rules, the policies, by definition they’re not value-free – that’s the whole point of a policy.

“There can also be biases that creep in just because there’s bias in the data that’s used to train these models.”

The NSW government is set to use the technology to detect anti-competitive behaviour between companies bidding for government contracts, partnering with the ACCC to prevent collusion.

Treasurer Daniel Mookey announced the program would “deploy world-leading AI technology”.

NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey said AI would be used to stamp out anti-competitive behaviour in government procurement. Picture: NewsWire/ Gaye Gerard

“Each year the NSW government spends $42bn buying goods and services,” he said.

“We want to make sure that taxpayers are getting full value for their money by ensuring that government procurement isn’t an opportunity for criminal cartel behaviour.

AI has been increasingly present in world governments over recent months, with the German minister of state for culture and media launching an AI-generated avatar of himself for multilingual communication.

An Albanian expert works at the National Agency for Information Society as an artificial intelligence ‘minister’ Diella is seen on the screens. Picture: AP Photo/ Vlasov Sulaj

Dr van der Putten, director of AI Labs at Pega, said governments “cannot hide behind the computer” to obscure their own decision-making and need to keep a human in the loop.

“There needs to be some level of transparency of how these systems are getting to their advice or to their decision,” he said.

He said, as long as it is used responsibly with a level of accountability, “There are many opportunities to use AI to make government more efficient, more accountable, and ultimately also more empathetic”.

“Maybe government officials can start to focus more on the citizens as long as these risks are being taken into account.”

Originally published as ‘Not objective’: Expert warning as countries adopt AI in government