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“Ethical” artificial intelligence in the welfare state: Discourse and discrepancy in Australian social services
Abstract
In recent years, a discourse of ‘ethical artificial intelligence’ has emerged and gained international traction in response to widely publicised AI failures. In Australia, the discourse around ethical AI does not accord with the reality of AI deployment in the public sector. Drawing on institutional ethnographic approaches, this paper describes the misalignments between how technology is described in government documentation, and how it is deployed in social service delivery. We argue that the propagation of ethical principles legitimates established new public management strategies, and pre-empts questions regarding the efficacy of AI development; instead positioning implementation as inevitable and, provided an ethical framework is adopted, laudable. The ethical AI discourse acknowledges, and ostensibly seeks to move past, widely reported administrative failures involving new technologies. In actuality, this discourse works to make AI implementation a reality, ethical or not.
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“The tensions arise between those seeking to implement AI for generating novel inputs to public decision-making versus those seeking efficiency”
From AI adoption and diffusion in public administration: A systematic literature review and future research agenda (2023) · cites this paper as James & Whelan, 2022
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Metadata
- Authors
- James, A., & Whelan, A.
- Affiliations
- La Trobe University (AU)
- University of Wollongong (AU)
- Corresponding author
- James, Alexandra
- Venue
- Critical Social Policy
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2021-01-11
- Volume
- 42
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 22-42
- ISSN
- 0261-0183 (ISSN-L)
- 1461-703X
- OpenAlex
- W3119182709
- Cited by
- 45
- References
- 43
- Citations by year
- 2026: 12 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 1
- FWCI
- 6.57
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Critical Social Policy (publishedVersion)
- Research Online (University of Wollongong) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Artificial Intelligence › Ethics and Social Impacts of AI
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › E-Government and Public Services
- Social Sciences › Public Administration › Public Policy and Administration Research
- Keywords
- ethical artificial intelligence, welfare state, social services, New Public Management, AI implementation, public sector technology, administrative failure, institutional ethnography, Australian social policy
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