When the AI becomes the intermediary, what does that mean for how we structure and produce information? Recently Pia Andrews shared some thoughts about moving from SEO to AIO – “But people are increasingly using AI tools (directly or indirectly) to search for information and advice, and are increasingly finding what they think they are… Continue reading SEO to AIO: an evolutionary or a revolutionary shift for the public sector?
Blog posts
A GenAI world requires us to audit our assumptions
The public sector is a beast of inertia. Doing things that were done before is the point of an institution – to sustain and replicate certain ways of doing things. This obviously has many advantages. No one wants the underpinnings of the state to be massively changeable on a day to day basis. We all… Continue reading A GenAI world requires us to audit our assumptions
Mental models for GenAI
Generative AI shows many of the hallmarks of being what’s known as a general purpose technology – something that will reshape things across our society and our economy. As a public servant with a background in innovation, I’m keen to make sure those of us in the public sector understand this technology as much as… Continue reading Mental models for GenAI
“Humanity fears no rivals”
With the rise of generative AI and its capabilities in story telling, images, videos and song, how AI might start to challenge our sense of what we regard as human? And might it be similar to how Clayton Christensen outlined disruptive innovation undermining market incumbents? Generative AI creativity I’ve recently been playing a bit with… Continue reading “Humanity fears no rivals”
Gen AI democratises AI: That’s a big deal
Why should we care so much about generative AI as opposed to the other forms of AI that have been around for some time? Because generative AI represents a massive phase shift, a new development in democratisation of a powerful technology, bringing capabilities to a vastly bigger audience than before. It might feel like we’re… Continue reading Gen AI democratises AI: That’s a big deal
LLMs and the disintermediation of the voice of government
As the internet helped to disintermediate many industries, might large language models such as ChatGPT ‘disintermediate’ the voice of governments and public sectors? And if so, what might that mean for the work done in governments around communications, service design and behavioural insights? Disintermediation from the internet, disintermediation from generative AI? Seeing to the heart… Continue reading LLMs and the disintermediation of the voice of government
Me, myself and the machine
How does generating content change with the arrival of ChatGPT? This post contains some musing about the impacts of generative AI on our relationship to our own knowledge and thinking. I am no longer writing for humans alone – the machine is my audience as much as you are One of the reasons I find… Continue reading Me, myself and the machine
Will generative AI disadvantage new starters?
How will newer entrants to the public service learn and professionally develop in a world of generative AI? In playing with ChatGPT and now some of the GPT agents, some interesting questions arise about what’s going to happen to a lot of the work currently done. While I’m not going to say all our jobs… Continue reading Will generative AI disadvantage new starters?
Why generative AI feels significant
If government is an information industry, what might generative AI tools mean for it? Playing with ChatGPT Over the past few weeks I, like many many others, have been playing with Open AI’s ChatGPT. Much of this has been playful such as: But then with some public servant friends, I started to play with it… Continue reading Why generative AI feels significant
Reflections on five years at OPSI
[Originally published by the OECD Observatory of Public Sector Innovation (OPSI) under a Creative Commons Attribution – ShareAlike 3.0 IGO (CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO).] After an amazing and intensive five years with the team at OPSI, I’m leaving the OECD to move on to new adventures back in Australia. Before I go, and with the indulgence of my colleagues, I’d… Continue reading Reflections on five years at OPSI