Intro to AI for Policymakers: Understanding the shift

Executive Summary

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has benefited from a number of recent technological advances, from increases in processing power to decreases in battery costs, and the explosion of available data. Beyond technical research and commercial opportunities, this transformative technology has the potential to fundamentally alter our society, with enormous consequences. The current speed of development and adoption of AI poses challenges to policymakers seeking to create regulations, use AI applications to improve government operations and service delivery, and better understand and respond to the socioeconomic impacts. Innovations such as autonomous vehicles are already challenging traditional regulatory regimes and planning in transit, infrastructure, and public safety. Natural language processing and predictive algorithms are already operating inside everyday technology in our homes and workplaces.