Public sector leaders are more optimistic about Gen AI’s impact: Deloitte

More than half of government respondents perceive a big impact from gen AI.

Public sector leaders are more optimistic about the impact of generative AI with 56% of government respondents foreseeing a transformational change within the next year, Deloitte reported. 

This is compared to only 24% of respondents from the commercial industry. 

When asked about their sentiment towards technology, public sector leaders were more surprised (50%) than excited (45%). 

This is in contrast to the emotions of leaders from the commercial industry, of whom 63% were excited and only 14% were surprised. 

“This relatively low excitement could be attributed to public sector leaders’ cautious approach toward gen AI,” the report noted.

“While a large majority of public sector respondents believed that generative AI would have a positive impact on society, they were 21 percentage points less optimistic than commercial counterparts that it would produce big productivity gains,” Deloitte explained further, noting that these gains are offset by perceived risk.

The same report found that 63% were worried that gen AI would further erode trust in public institutions.