Artificial intelligence is spreading across the NSW government, with 357 different tools found to be in use across 21 of 26 of the state’s largest departments and agencies.
The NSW Audit Office, which conducted the review, said the AI tools are used for a variety of purposes, including workflow improvement, customer interaction, fraud detection and cybersecurity support, compliance monitoring, capability development and support services.
Not all are in production – some are still in pilot phase – but given the breadth of use and use cases, the audit identified the need for agencies to develop more tailored governance for their specific circumstances.
NSW agencies are currently required to comply with the entire state government artificial intelligence rules.
The audit highlighted concerns that the government-wide framework may not be sufficiently detailed for some departments and agencies that are in more advanced stages of AI adoption.
“Agency-level policies are needed to deal with elements that go beyond the NSW Government’s ethical principles,” the report reads [pdf].
“There is no one-size-fits-all governance model.”
The report found that fewer than half of the 21 largest departments and agencies had implemented formal AI policies for AI or integrated the emerging technology into existing agency frameworks.
Some departments and agencies noted that their policies are currently under review, while others indicated that they are dependent on the state AI ethics policy.
The report also encouraged the creation of central inventories to document the purpose, uses and limitations of the technology to improve government accountability.
Of the 21 largest departments and agencies, 15 reported that they were already doing this at the time of the survey.
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