The UK’s public sector should embrace risk-taking and introduce a higher tolerance for failure in order to harness the benefits of artificial intelligence, the auditor general will say on Tuesday.
National Audit Office head Gareth Davies will urge mandarins to embrace experimentation and a “fast-learning” culture in order to maximise the benefits of emerging technologies for Britain’s public services.
“When the technical solutions we need to tackle big problems such as climate change are not yet fully developed or implemented, a portfolio approach to investing in research and development becomes essential,” he will say.
“This allows a risk appetite to be set for investment, recognising that not every new idea will bear fruit.”
Davies, whose official title is Comptroller & Auditor General, will stress that AI presents “risks to be managed, not avoided”, and will encourage civil servants to learn from the tech sector.
“[A] feature of successful innovators is their ability to learn quickly what works and what doesn’t, so that failed experiments can be stopped promptly and the resources redirected to more promising ideas,” he will say.
As the independent Whitehall spending watchdog, the NAO is responsible for highlighting waste, delays and overspend by the government — and often delivers stinging criticism of departments over projects that represent poor value for money.
But in an annual address to parliament this week, Davies will unveil plans for the watchdog to make greater allowances for trials of new technology by officials that misfire.
As part of a refreshed strategy for the coming five years, the NAO will also proactively praise positive examples of innovation, including instances where failing initiatives have been dropped in favour of more auspicious ones.
Davies’ intervention comes a week after ministers unveiled a suite of new AI tools designed to make the government run faster for less cash, including a programme called Consult to assist state consultations, and programmes called Lex and Parlex, which aim to help policymakers and researchers explore legislation.
In his speech, Davies will acknowledge that people working inside government often have an “ingrained worry that any failed project represents poor value for money”.
Civil servants must be rewarded for well-managed risk-taking, rather than fearing criticism from the NAO or Parliament if their projects go wrong, he will say, adding that some critics had said the watchdog’s scrutiny could act to “stifle innovation”.
Davies will also warn the state must prioritise driving productivity gains across all public services, highlighting that productivity growth across the whole economy has been lower since 2008 than in the decades beforehand.
While AI has the potential to speed up routine tasks and build on the work of skilled experts, he will declare the government must also do more to tackle the causes of avoidable demand, plus invest in people and skills.
Warning about the potential for wasted expenditure when the state is blindsided by “increasingly likely events”, he will call for improved resilience, urging the government to be “better prepared nationally and locally” for shocks such as pandemics, extreme weather and cyber attacks.
