The government is to begin introducing artificial intelligence into the civil service to “support civil servants in their work”, Research Deputy Minister Nicodemos Damianou said after Wednesday’s cabinet meeting.
He described the move as “an important step in the process of digital modernisation of the public sector” and “part of the broader effort to utilise the capabilities of artificial intelligence in the public sector”.
As for how it will help civil servants, he said artificial intelligence will both facilitate and accelerate the completion of tasks and “allow them to focus on what has real value”.
“By automating simple actions, rapidly analysing large amounts of information, and integrating security mechanisms, this artificial intelligence tool enables us to work smarter and save time with complete protection of personal data and public information,” he said.
“The government will now be making use of generative artificial intelligence tools in the public sector in a structured way, so as to ensure the security of the data being circulated.”
He added that the first stage of artificial intelligence’s implementation will be the granting of 350 licences for Microsoft’s Co-Pilot tool, with civil servants set to be offered training programmes to ensure that the technology will be “used safely, responsibly, and with a substantial impact on daily work”.
He said training on how to use Co-Pilot will be offered by Microsoft, and that “practically everyone” in the civil service will “now have these tools built into their computer or device connected to Microsoft 365 to use in their everyday lives”.
Meanwhile, he said, the government is also moving forward with a “series of actions for the broader adoption and utilisation of artificial intelligence in the public sector”, for which it will invest an initial €5 million.
Businesses, he said, are “invited to develop solutions based on artificial intelligence for the state’s real challenges, from the interconnection of education with the labour market to the [prediction] of extreme weather phenomena”.
The Cyprus Mail attempted to contact Damianou to ask clarifying questions regarding the government’s plans to implement artificial intelligence in the civil service, given the possibility of mistakes being made by artificial intelligence and the lack of accountability for it, as has played out in Australia this week, but received no response.
In Australia, accounting firm Deloitte announced on Monday that it will partially refund payment for an Australian government which contained multiple errors after being partly produced by artificial intelligence.
Australia’s employment department had commissioned a AU$439,000 (€248,000) review to help assess problems with the country’s welfare system, with the Australian financial review finding that the document contained multiple errors, including references to and citations of non-existent reports written by academics.
Newspaper the Financial Times described the incident as an “embarrassing episode” which “underscores the dangers posed … by using AI technology, particularly the danger of ‘hallucinations’”.
Meanwhile, research from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that 95 per cent of organisations are receiving zero return from their investments in generative artificial intelligence, with economic experts now speaking of an “AI bubble” which could “burst” in the near future.
This was corroborated by the Bank of England’s financial policy committee on Thursday, which said there is a growing risk of a “sharp market correction” as investors overvalue the potential of artificial intelligence.
“On a number of measures, equity market valuations appear stretched, particularly for technology companies focused on artificial intelligence. This … leaves equity markets particularly exposed should expectations around the impact of AI become less optimistic,” it said.
As such, it warned that a “sudden correction could occur”, which would, in essence, see share prices tumble and have knock-on impacts for the wider economy.
