Overview

For many governments, digitalizing their public sector bureaucracies has become an important goal. Digitalization is viewed as an essential aspect of becoming a better government that is more effective and efficient. One technology that is often viewed as a driver of such digital transformation is artificial intelligence.

While bureaucracy and the state are likely to be strengthened, rather than replaced by AI, the adoption of these new technologies is likely to lead to structural changes within those bureaucracies. This project explores these changes by examining how public sector bureaucracies reconcile their existing institutional logics and values with those of newly introduced AI systems.

This project will use a two-part methodology to explore this question. The first stage will be a systematic literature review, leading to the creation of a theoretical framework for further study into how logics and values are exchanged between AI systems and public sector bureaucracies. In the second stage, a comparative case study of four AI projects in Denmark, Estonia, Germany and the United Kingdom will explore the transformational impact an AI project has had on the adopting bureaucracy.