Jerry Petersen
Generative artificial intelligence is seen by many in the public sector to be an important piece of technology that needs to be adopted by their organizations, according to the results of a survey recently released by Amazon Web Services.
AWS said Tuesday that it had designed the survey in collaboration with Market Connections with the aim of determining the approaches public sector leaders are taking concerning the adoption of generative AI. The survey was done online and gathered input from 839 IT decision-makers belonging to the U.S. government as well as organizations from the education, healthcare and nonprofit sectors.
Expected Benefits of Generative AI
Of the survey’s respondents, 89% consider generative AI adoption to be crucial. Opinions regarding the technology’s benefits vary, but according to the survey, those benefits largely align under one of two themes: the enhancement of information analysis, resulting in faster or better decision-making; and automation, which can be applied to repetitive tasks and report creation and communication.
Trusted AI Partner
For 85% of respondents, however, having a trusted partner is important to help them determine where generative AI can best be applied in their organizations. In addition, 84% said they would be interested in working with experts in AI and machine learning to look into possible generative AI use cases.
Regarding these results, David Levy, vice president of worldwide public sector at AWS, said, “The survey shows what AWS already knows to be true: 85% of public sector respondents need a trusted partner in generative AI by their side.”
Data Security & Privacy
Another important consideration for public sector organizations is data security and privacy. Nearly half the respondents consider these issues to be their largest concern; cost comes in second. Furthermore, 83% said their organizations are concerned about the trust that the public has in generative AI.
Regarding these issues, Levy, a 2024 Wash100 winner, said, “The fact half of the survey respondents are concerned about data security and privacy aligns with what our clients tell us. Keeping America’s data safe is an immense responsibility, which is why it is crucial to have the highest security standards possible.”
