Overview
- Analyses how the rise of artificial intelligence can be applied to frontline government and public administration
- Provides interdisciplinary perspectives, featuring interviews with frontline public servants including doctors, social workers and police officers
- Considers how AI is re-shaping traditional ideas of face to face public encounters, and asks if this approach can both automate and 're-humanise' interactions between government and public
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Table of contents (10 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Keywords
- artificial intelligence
- frontline government services
- robots
- virtual public servant
- digital government
- service design
- deep learning
- text analytics
- Q-methodology
- street level bureaucracy
- datafication
- customer service
- call centres
- chatbots
- automation
- social media management
- corporate communication
- local government
- future of work
About this book
With recent advances and investment in artificial intelligence, are we on the verge of introducing virtual public servants? Governments around the world are rapidly deploying robots and virtual agents in healthcare, education, local government, social care, and criminal justice. These advances not only promise unprecedented levels of control and convenience at a reduced cost but also claim to connect, to empathise, and to build trust. This book documents how—after decades of designing out costly face to face transactions, investment in call centres, and incentivising citizens to self-service—the tech industry is promising to re-humanise our frontline public services. It breaks out of disciplinary silos and moves us on from the polarised hype vs. fear discussion on the future of work. It does so through in-depth Q-methodology interviews with a wide range of frontline public servants, from doctors to librarians, from social workers to school receptionists, and from police officers to call handlers. The first of its kind, this book should be of interest across the social sciences and to anyone concerned with how recent measures to digitise and automate our services are paving the way for the development of full-blown AI in frontline work.
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: The Virtual Public Servant
Book Subtitle: Artificial Intelligence and Frontline Work
Authors: Stephen Jeffares
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-54084-5
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: Political Science and International Studies, Political Science and International Studies (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-54083-8Published: 01 December 2020
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-54086-9Published: 02 December 2021
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-54084-5Published: 30 November 2020
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XV, 274
Number of Illustrations: 13 b/w illustrations, 7 illustrations in colour