Artificial Intelligence Applications in Government: Building Digital Powered Nations

Can Leveraging Artificial Intelligence Applications in Government tackle current challenges?

Artificial intelligence (AI) has introduced many opportunities for various industries. Today, developed to developing and under-developed countries all are racing the battle of becoming AI-driven nations. Governments worldwide perceive AI as a key defining technology that can bring socio-economic growth development. Hence, various countries' leaders and their policymakers are indulging in pushing AI towards a strategic and regulation innovative ecosystem. Let's have a look at how artificial intelligence applications in government sectors are catalyzing disruption.

The revenue collection department deals with vast amounts of data and information about the taxpayers. This data helps in identifying risks, estimate taxes, monitor tax collections, tax returns verification and more. Nowadays, tax authorities are leveraging artificial intelligence algorithms to predict those unlikely to pay their taxes, how people will react to tax interventions and new regulations. These help authorities to take action that can boost revenue collection and lower tax avoidance. E.g. Swedish Tax Agency uses a chatbot named Skatti to handle around 15,000 citizen queries about tax returns a month, making services more accessible, personal and efficient.

Artificial intelligence applications for documentation are not limited to the revenue collection department. It can also be used in other sectors where government authorities and employees are frustrated with documenting and recording information processes. According to Deloitte, every year US$16 billion gets wasted in this and an additional US$15 billion in the procuring and processing of information. So, artificial intelligence can help to improve bureaucratic activities.

Since the electric pace of developments in artificial intelligence makes predicting and forecasting easier, it is also being employed for other vital purposes too. For instance, a financial crime like money laundering alone costs US$1.4 trillion and US$3.5 trillion globally a year. AI software can help government agencies and financial institutions to detect money laundering and prevent corruption. The University of Valladolid in Spain has created a neural network model that calculates the probability of corruption taking place in Spanish provinces, as well as identifies the conditions that encourage corruption.

Artificial intelligence has also become an indispensable asset in tracking and tracing cases during the COVID-19 pandemic. Countries like China were relying on AI-powered drones and robots to detect population movement and social gatherings and to identify individuals with a fever or who aren't wearing masks – via computer vision. It also used agricultural drones as disinfectant sprays to sterilize the areas. Nabta Health in the United Arab Emirates used artificial intelligence to provide risk and symptom diagnosis to people.

Even the Norwegian Labor and Welfare Administration (NAV)'s virtual chatbot Frida helped NAV to cope with a 250% increase in inquiries and unprecedented demand for its services. Generally, chatbots help citizens get quick answers to important questions improves service while reducing costs and backlog. Even the US Army website is using a chatbot that answers questions, checks qualifications and refers prospective recruits to human recruiters. With an accuracy rate of over 94%, the chatbot uses machine learning to improve recognition and helpful responses – doing the work of 55 human recruiters at once.

State and national governments also need to be prepared to spring into action as a response to any kind of possible natural disaster. AI can be very resourceful here too. E.g., artificial intelligence researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology, Emory University, and the University of California, Irvine collaborated with the Atlanta Fire Rescue Department (AFRD) to co-develop up a predictive analytics software (Firebird) that prioritizes buildings for inspection that have a higher likelihood of fire incidents.

A recent research report from Microsoft reveals that apart from finding patterns to identify hazardous events, artificial intelligence tools also enable an analysis of how those patterns and trends, like the length or intensity of droughts or floods, could change in the future.