Study: The Public Sector Workforce is Warming Up to AI

Skepticism about AI’s role in the public sector workplace has been persistent.

Consider the recent report that found 58% of the nearly 300 PSHRA^® members surveyed reported feeling that their employees are afraid they will be replaced by AI. And, when asked to gauge their comfort level experimenting with AI, 44% noted they were either “not comfortable” or “very uncomfortable.”

That said, overall perceptions of AI and its workplace potential are generally positive among the PSHRA^® members surveyed. In addition to the 40% of respondents who indicated they were comfortable experimenting with AI, another 41% said they were very comfortable doing so. More than half (53%) reported finding generative AI tools such as ChatGPT “easily accessible and beneficial.”

More recent research suggests that public sector employees are indeed warming up to AI.

A Hoover Institute survey asked more than 1,000 civil servants about their current AI use patterns and how they expect to use AI-powered tools going forward. A quarter of respondents said they are already using generative AI for work-related tasks, “and that number is expected to grow rapidly,” according to a Hoover statement summarizing the key findings. One out of six public sector workers said they use AI tools at least once a week, and almost half expect to be using generative AI one year from now.

The first wave of AI adoption was focused on the drafting and editing of written communication, documents, and informational and marketing content, according to the survey, developed by Hoover research fellow Oliver Giesecke. The study also found that chatbots and conversational AI powered this first adoption wave, followed by voice or speech recognition tools.

As adoption of AI figures to increase throughout the public sector, Hoover researchers suggest these findings highlight the need for workforce AI training programs and policies on responsible use.

More than 70% of respondents said they’ve received some type of formal AI training within their agency, ranging from online courses to in-person workshops or external courses. Seventy-one percent of those who have participated in such training said it was effective. Among those who have not, 49% indicated they were interested in receiving some form of AI-focused training.

In terms of policies to mitigate potential perils of employing AI, though, “it appears that a large swath of the public sector is still unprepared to confront these risks,” according to Hoover, which notes that 9% of respondents reported that their organization had no formal policies regarding generative AI use. Another 51% said they were unaware whether any such policies existed within their agency.

“These results indicate a need for sustained effort by public sector organizations to develop system-wide AI use policies and plans for how to safeguard the data of members of the public who interact with civil servants wielding AI applications.”