Governments, Rewired / Davos 2025

Summary

This panel discussion at the World Economic Forum focused on “rewiring government” through the use of technology, particularly artificial intelligence (AI) and digital platforms. The conversation highlighted successful examples of government transformation, challenges faced, and key factors for effective implementation.

Cina Lawson, Minister of Digital Economy from Togo, shared how her country rapidly developed a digital platform during COVID-19 to distribute cash to citizens in need, using AI and mobile technology. Achim Steiner of the UNDP emphasized the importance of recognizing innovation potential in developing countries and the need for governments to become digitally literate.

Maryam Al Hammadi from the UAE described their comprehensive approach to government modernization, including digital transformation and legislative reforms. She stressed the importance of leadership vision and alignment within the government to drive change. Thomas Siebel, founder of C3 AI, highlighted the transformative potential of generative AI in delivering government services more efficiently and accurately.

Key themes emerged across the discussion: the need for clear vision and leadership support, collaboration with the private sector, building digital skills within government, and balancing top-down and bottom-up approaches. Panelists also addressed concerns about AI’s impact on democracy and the importance of active citizen engagement.

The discussion concluded with recommendations for governments to embrace private sector innovation, focus on long-term planning, and ensure that technology serves societal needs. Overall, the panel presented an optimistic view of technology’s potential to improve government services and efficiency, while acknowledging the challenges of implementation and the need for careful consideration of its impacts.

Keypoints

Major discussion points:

– The importance of government adopting new technologies and AI to improve efficiency and service delivery

– Challenges and strategies for implementing digital transformation in government, including overcoming resistance

– Examples of successful government digitization efforts in countries like Togo and UAE

– The role of leadership, vision, and collaboration with the private sector in driving government modernization

– Potential benefits and risks of AI for governance and democracy

Overall purpose:

The goal of this discussion was to explore how governments can “rewire” themselves by adopting new technologies and digital approaches to become more efficient, responsive, and effective in serving citizens.

Tone:

The overall tone was optimistic and forward-looking, with speakers highlighting the transformative potential of technology for government. There was a sense of urgency about the need for governments to modernize quickly. The tone became slightly more cautionary near the end when discussing potential risks of AI, but remained largely positive about the opportunities presented by new technologies.

Speakers

– Ngaire Woods – Dean of the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford

– Tony Blair – Former Prime Minister of the UK, Founder of the Tony Blair Institute

– Achim Steiner – Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

– Maryam Al Hammadi – Minister and Secretary to the Government of the United Arab Emirates

– Thomas Siebel – Founder and CEO of C3 AI

– Cina Lawson – Minister of Digital Economy and Transformation in Togo

Additional speakers:

– Audience members (unnamed) who asked questions

Expanded Summary: Rewiring Government Through Technology

This panel discussion at the World Economic Forum explored the critical challenge of “rewiring government” through the adoption of new technologies, particularly artificial intelligence (AI) and digital platforms. The conversation brought together experts from government, international organisations, and the private sector to discuss successful examples of government transformation, challenges faced, and key factors for effective implementation.

Key Themes and Arguments

1. Urgency of Technology Adoption in Government

Tony Blair, former UK Prime Minister, opened the discussion by framing the technology revolution as the biggest challenge facing governments today. He drew parallels to the 19th century Industrial Revolution, emphasizing that both developed and developing countries must adapt to this new era. Blair stressed the urgent need for the public sector to catch up with private sector innovation, setting the tone for the panel’s exploration of government modernization.

2. Successful Implementation of Digital Government

Cina Lawson, Minister of Digital Economy from Togo, shared a compelling case study of rapid technological implementation. In response to the COVID-19 crisis, Togo developed a digital platform in less than 10 days to distribute financial aid through mobile payments. Lawson elaborated on Togo’s use of AI and satellite imagery for poverty mapping and beneficiary identification, demonstrating the potential for innovative solutions in developing countries.

Maryam Al Hammadi from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) described their comprehensive approach to government modernisation, which has resulted in the digital transformation of 99% of government services. The UAE’s strategy included legislative reforms to attract talent and businesses, creating an enabling environment for technological advancement. These reforms encompassed changes to visa policies, business ownership laws, and initiatives to foster innovation and entrepreneurship.

3. Challenges and Solutions in Digital Transformation

While the potential benefits of digital transformation were widely acknowledged, speakers highlighted significant challenges in implementation, including:

– Legacy systems and bureaucracies resistant to change

– Lack of in-house skills and infrastructure

– Political challenges from those preferring traditional methods

– Balancing top-down vision with bottom-up citizen needs

Achim Steiner of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) emphasized the crucial role of digital literacy and education in overcoming these challenges. He highlighted the UNDP’s creation of accelerator labs to foster innovation within country teams, showcasing an approach to building internal capacity for digital transformation.

4. Public-Private Collaboration and Innovation

The discussion revealed nuanced perspectives on the role of the private sector in government transformation. Thomas Siebel, founder of C3 AI, strongly advocated for governments to embrace private sector expertise to drive innovation. However, Achim Steiner provided a more balanced view, reminding the audience that much fundamental research is publicly funded and that many innovators are products of government-funded education systems. This highlighted the complex interplay between public and private sectors in technological advancement.

5. The Future of AI in Government Services

Thomas Siebel presented an optimistic vision of AI’s potential to revolutionize government service delivery, arguing that AI will become the primary means of delivering government services. He predicted that AI could turn billions of people into “polymaths” with access to the entirety of human knowledge. However, Siebel also cautioned about the potential risks of AI being used to undermine democracy, referencing events like Brexit and US elections.

Ngaire Woods, Dean of the Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford University, emphasized the need to ensure that AI strengthens rather than weakens democracy, highlighting the importance of carefully managing the implementation of these powerful technologies.

Key Takeaways and Unresolved Issues

1. Technology adoption and digital transformation are critical challenges for governments worldwide.

2. Successful government digital transformation requires clear vision, leadership support, and collaboration with the private sector.

3. AI and digital technologies can significantly improve the efficiency and quality of government services, but also pose risks that need to be managed.

4. Digital literacy and education are crucial for both government staff and citizens.

5. Balancing top-down vision with bottom-up citizen needs is essential in digital transformation.

Unresolved issues included ensuring AI strengthens democracy, implementing long-term digital strategies despite shorter political cycles, and addressing privacy and security concerns in government use of AI and citizen data.

Conclusion

The panel concluded with each participant offering a one-word response to describe the process of rewiring government, reflecting the complexity and potential of this transformation. Ngaire Woods mentioned the World Economic Forum’s GovTech network as a resource for continued collaboration and innovation in this field.

As governments continue to grapple with the rapid pace of technological change, the insights from this discussion provide valuable guidance for navigating the complex process of “rewiring” government for the digital age, while emphasizing the need to carefully consider the societal impacts of new technologies.

Ngaire Woods: Well, good afternoon. folks. My name is Nairi Woods. I’m Dean of the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford and today we have 45 minutes to think hard about government rewired. The promise of rewiring government is huge. It’s been discussed right across Davos this year that AI can transform the way that any organization does its own work and delivers to its customers, clients, citizens. We’ve seen across the world in the country in which I’m based at Oxford University in Oxford that supermarkets have data on every single person in the local community. They can tell you which 10 families are in need and yet government is using a clunky old system designed 20 years ago to deliver benefits that are not flexible. We’re going to hear today from people from different countries who have overcome those problems and we’re going to hear how to do that. But I’m going to start by inviting a man I’m sure known to you all as a prominent Oxford University alumni but you might be interested also to know that he was once Britain’s Prime Minister. He’s the founder of the Tony Blair Institute and a leading voice in how to get governments rewired. Mr. Blair.

Tony Blair: Thank you very much. As I said to you my academic career at Oxford was not very distinguished frankly so I don’t think they celebrate me much as an alum. But it’s great to be with you. So my very simple thesis is that how government understands masters and harnesses the technology revolution is the single biggest thing for government to get its head around today. And the challenge is a very very simple one because my institute did a we work in roughly 45 countries now and helping governments make change. And a couple of years ago, I got the Institute to do an analysis of the 19th century Industrial Revolution and how long it took politics and government to catch up with the fact that in the real world, this revolution was going on. And even allowing for the fact that life moves much quicker today, it took them a long time. And the challenge, therefore, is for a lot of political leaders and a lot of governments, they kind of, yes, OK, they can see in theory it’s important. And they’re trying to get their heads around it in certain areas. But I still don’t think the political class, the governing class systems have fully internalized just the fundamental nature of this change. And it comes at a time when if you’re a developed country today, your biggest problem, which is why political disruption is happening, is that people think government’s spending a lot of their money, government’s taxing them quite highly, and the outcomes are quite poor. And if you’re from the younger generation and you’re used to being empowered in relation to what you do, you find government also very paternalistic, very top down, very bureaucratic, and occasionally impenetrable. So that’s the challenge for the developed world. The challenge for the developing world is that people’s expectations, again, are very high. And they want to accelerate development. So you can say, look, in 30 years’ time, we’ll develop faster. But right now, people want change. So this is the challenge, both for the developed world and the developing world. The instrument in their hands that can solve this. this challenge is the technology revolution, because I think you will hear from what is a very distinguished panel. The good news is that this instrument will, if properly utilized, transform everything. Now, I don’t mean to say there aren’t downsides with the technology revolution and technology, a lot of it’s general purpose technology, okay, so it can always be used for bad as well as good, but the fact is it should transform healthcare. It should transform the way we educate. It should transform, because government’s all about process in the end and about permissions, about things like procurement, it should transform all of these things because you’re going to be able to use artificial intelligence particularly, generative AI particularly, to make changes and to improve efficiency in a way that then allows you to spend less, tax less, but deliver greater efficiency, at least that’s the holy grail that people should aim for. And it allows you, if you’re a developing country, not to have to put in place all the legacy systems that you can see in the Western countries, but actually to circumvent them altogether. I mean, in the UK today, we would never create the National Health Service as it is now if we were in today’s world. We have a different type of service because of what technology can do. And you can see, and there are examples actually, UAE, for example, Togo, for example, there are countries, Singapore, India, Estonia, Rwanda, Kenya, some of the countries my institute is working on, they’re all working with, they’re already doing amazing things, but we’re literally only at the foothills of this revolution. So anyway, this is what you’re going to hear today. And I think the problem for governments will be partially one of understanding. and partially one of capacity. Because the other problem is, I do not think there is any point in trying to hand all of this over to existing bureaucracies and civil services and say, sort it all out. A lot of it requires deep specialist knowledge and there’s got to be a completely new relationship between private and public sector where we’re harnessing a lot of the expertise and ability that resides in the private sector. But just to finish on this, you know, often when I have a conversation with the political leaders we work with, and they’ll say about this technology revolution, they’ll say, well, is it a good thing or a bad thing? And I say to them, that is honestly a redundant argument. Yeah, it’s a good thing and it can also be a bad thing. But the point is, it’s a thing. In fact, in my view, it is the thing. So if that is true, and it is the real world revolution that’s happening, we should try, the public sector will always be slower than the private sector to catch up, but we should at least try to accelerate that process of catching up. And the great benefit for political leaders is that whereas at the moment, political leaders who are incumbents are finding it really struggling, really hard to win elections, having been elected to win again, if they use this instrument properly, the benefits will not just be for the country, but they’ll even be political as well. Thank you very much. Have a wonderful panel. I wish you well.

Ngaire Woods: Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Blair. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. So Mr. Blair has laid out some of the promise and some of the challenge of adopting new technologies in government. What we can certainly see in lots of industrialized countries is three big fears. The first is competition. They don’t want to be into one company who has a monopoly over all the government. But nor does it work to have a different company doing your digitization in each different ministry, because then you create silos and you lose the benefits of being in one. Second thing they’re worried about is privacy and surveillance and how you control and support the liberty of citizens. And the third thing they’re worried about, of course, is encroachment from overseas, from foreign powers, how vulnerable a government rewired might be. And those fears are paralyzing governments into a defensive crouch in many countries. So we’re seeing not even minimal, we’re seeing some sort of veneer digitization, as you might say, rather than a fundamental rewriting of how government delivers. But today on this panel, we’ve got some people who have fundamentally rewritten and I’m sure you’re as excited as I am to hear how. And I’m going to start by moving to Sina Lawson, who’s sitting on my left, Minister of Digital Economy and Transformation in Togo. During COVID, Togo managed something extraordinary, something that many wealthy countries didn’t. It managed to use digital to get benefits to the people who really needed them during COVID. So Sina, tell us how did you make it happen? So thank you very much. Good afternoon, everyone. So COVID was a huge opportunity for us because it enabled us to build a platform to distribute digital cash to the poorest of the Togolese.

Cina Lawson: So when the pandemic started, we wanted to implement mobility restriction measures like everybody else. But we knew that we had to find a way to support the poorest individuals because every day they needed to go out to earn their living and we were restraining their movements. So in no time, really, because it took less than 10 days, we built a digital a platform to give financial aid through mobile payment. So that was something very innovative at the time, and it enabled us to do two things. Number one, to pay directly cash to 25% of all Togolese adults. And the way we did it is that it wasn’t through building an application, because most of the individuals we targeted didn’t have smartphones, they didn’t have access to the Internet. Not that the Internet was not there, but their phones would not access the Internet. So we had to build a USSD platform, a short code, and we asked them to register onto the platform using their voters’ IDs, because it was biometric IDs. And the beauty of it is that from registering onto the platform to receiving money, it took less than two minutes. And I think in our history, it was the first time that the government would say, you’re going to receive cash, and in less than two minutes, you would receive it directly to your phone. So that was number one, and very important, because it also helped us to build trust and to be relevant again, because like Tony, Mr. Blair said earlier, we face tremendous challenges, and one of these challenges is to remain relevant in an environment where people are more and more demanding. So that was one thing. We used mobile payment to distribute cash. But the second question was, that was in early 2020. But then the question for us was, we did not know how long the pandemic was going to last, so we had to find ways to be very efficient in prioritizing beneficiaries. And so we used artificial intelligence in partnership actually with Berkeley, the University of Berkeley. We used artificial intelligence to do two things. Number one, we used satellite imagery. to draw a poverty map of Togo, so that we would know the range of revenues for each neighborhood of the country. So we had a map of all the revenues earned by the Togolese. So that enabled us to answer question number one, which is, where are the poorest individuals? Then question number two was, who are they? And then we used another algorithm. This time we applied it to cell phone metadata to have the phone numbers of people the machine identified as being the poorest of the Togolese. So we texted them, we sent them SMS asking them to register onto our platform using their voters IDs, and then we started to distribute cash directly to them. So we were very proud to think that we were maybe the first country to just distribute cash based solely on artificial intelligence. And Sina, I’m sure there are people listening to this that are thinking, okay, let’s do that in our country. So just share with us, what was the biggest obstacle or barrier along the way that others could learn from? I would say that the first was, we had issues with skills, because when we say that we used the payment platform, we were able to build very, very quickly in-house because we could not actually, even if we wanted to do it through a public-private partnership, given the timeframe that we had, which was very short, we wouldn’t have been able to even select a company because procurement processes are super long. So no way to contract in these circumstances. So that was number one. Number two was that because we used AI, we needed to process the data, and we didn’t have the infrastructure in-house. And so that’s why we worked a lot, actually, with the US, and we actually had to transfer data to have it analyzed elsewhere. didn’t have in-house maybe the capabilities in terms of data scientists and others. And again, we didn’t have the time because it was the pandemic and so on. So then the question for us was, okay, we have to do things fast and let’s make sure that after the pandemic, we have a sustainable methodology that we can implement. So the whole point was learning from what we were doing and making sure that afterwards we would set up the foundation to be sustainable in the future. Fantastic. Now, audience members, do know that you can ask questions to clarify, to comment, both at the end and after each speaker.

Ngaire Woods: So any quick question of clarification for Minister Lawson?

Audience: Yes. Yes. So I think my question is, how do you manage politics? Because most strikes result for the government to try and design a robust match of the houses. Great.

Ngaire Woods: Let’s take that. How do you manage the politics, other people in the cabinet that don’t want it to happen, those who prefer the old ways of doing things?

Cina Lawson: Yeah, so there’s the politics from the government standpoint, I mean, within the government, and the politics from the citizens standpoint. The citizens were very happy because they received cash, right? So everybody was super enthusiastic and so on. From the government side, we had two types of people, very supportive people on the one hand, and then groups of people we call the legacy people, who didn’t really trust the technology, didn’t really, you know, they were afraid of this failing. But the president himself was supportive, and he was the one who said, let’s do it and let’s make sure that it’s quick and efficient. So I guess that after the support of the president, obviously everybody was aligned and we were able to make it happen. But right now, 2020… 2025, fast forward, with the help of the World Bank, we received an additional funding to make sure that we would scale this methodology. So now even people who used to be, you know, reluctant in embracing this type of change have agreed to adopt it. So all the social protection ministries within Togo are now implementing this methodology.

Ngaire Woods: Fantastic. Akeem Steiner, you’re head of the United Nations Development Programme. One of the first things you did as administrator was create these wonderful labs to learn and to innovate and transform. But when you hear the story of Togo, how is it that in the UNDP, how does that feel and look as you try to help countries do this? Well, I think listening to this story just shows how often every day across the world the future is being invented.

Achim Steiner: And I think when you lead an organisation as large as UNDP and born out of a tradition that you are a bringer of knowledge and ideas, it takes a degree of re-imagination to say actually the future is being invented in the very ecosystem in which we are a partner. So I remember when you began in the midst of COVID to put this platform in place. We immediately knew about it because we have a team in Togo and we were struggling with many countries at the time, first of all, to do a socioeconomic assessment. Within three months in 120 countries, what was the impact? What were the means? What were the pivots that countries were able to pull off? And Togo popped right to the top of the list. So I think the story COVID specific and, you know, in a sense, cash transfer specific speaks to what I think development is all about today. How can we first of all recognise that in the 21st century, even if you are in a poor country, in a poor economy, there is an extraordinary potential to invent the future. And I want to give you a quote from a young Ghanaian who has never left me because he was one of the winners of an award that we had put in place about working with technology. And he said to me, look, if I was in America and I was trying to do what I’m trying to do, I would go on Amazon and order all of this stuff. He was trying to actually build the first solar vehicle in Accra. I had to go to the waste dump of Accra to look for circuit boards, for wires, and so on. And that’s how I began to build this thing that then actually worked and became a sort of core celebrity. So to the more structural question, I think one of the interesting, and UNDP is an institution that principally and first and foremost is there to assist governments in identifying what are the development opportunities of the future, what decisions and choices do we need to make in today’s world, and to be able to help them also to have the capacity to do so. We talk about a lot of technology, AI and digital. In many governments, as Tony Blair also said, there is very often a kind of lag. And the fact that you are one of the youngest ministers, I think, at the time in the ICT field also spoke to the fact that governments have to quickly open up.

Ngaire Woods: And Akin, can I just ask you, you’re working within the United Nations, which is not on the whole noted for its rapid transformation within itself. But within the UNDP, how easy is it to transform, to rewire the UNDP? And what have you learned during your time about that? What would you say to a successor UNDP head about the opportunities and barriers to rewiring the UNDP?

Achim Steiner: Well, first of all, let me take up the challenge. I actually think the event is far more agile than many people give it credit for. We are often the people who, within 24 hours of a disaster, a conflict breaking out, are able to mobilize logistics across the planet like virtually no one else. And I use that analogy because that’s the extreme end. Actually, I found UNDP to be remarkably agile, partly because it’s an institution that is decentralized. 95% of our staff are in country teams. They work in the ecosystem of that country. They are partners. Often they are professionals, because most of our staff happen to be national professionals from the country who, as part of a global network, then become bridge builders, catalysts. But perhaps the simplest way in which I can describe is you have to set a direction. When digital emerged, UNDP, when I arrived, was literally an analog organization. But everybody could sense that digital was transforming government, governance, economies. You have to create a direction. You have to make it very clear that two years down the line, there is no digital illiteracy anymore in this organization if you want to be part of it. So that’s the push factor. Then you liberate people. And the accelerator labs were precisely to create platforms in every country team where we employed three people who came from outside institutions, very unusual people with very unusual titles who never thought of working for the UN, but suddenly saw their future coincide with the platform we provided. And then you give them freedom to experiment. And it’s extraordinary what happens. A large, yes, you’re right, 23,000 people in 170 countries is not exactly a sprinter. But I was surprised, and I am baffled, at how quickly an institution becomes literate because it can find around it so many examples. And part of UNDP’s work is to connect and to help capacities that governments need. But we also have to learn from the private sector. And if you allow me one last comment just walking through Davos here, AI is everywhere. Obviously, every year needs a theme. What I sometimes find intriguing is that the AI narrative of Davos is sometimes somewhat removed from the narrative that I hear in the rest of the world. Because it’s not just companies who have ideas and products that they wish to offer and sell in a market. It is actually the interface between government, companies, markets, education systems, universities. We often pretend that all of this is just a commercial and business value proposition. Actually, much of the fundamental research is publicly funded. The people who come out of universities are often the products of government-funded education systems. So there is a story of government going upstream. The education syllabus, for example. If you don’t introduce digital literacy in school, then your next school-leaving generation cannot be very effective in the digital economy. Right through to the other end, which is what we will hear, I’m sure, more about, and the UAE is practicing it, and many others, how the applications then create entirely new economic trajectories, new markets, new platforms. And again, government needs to be an enabler and a regulator. And I think it is this moment in time where, if you go to China today, if you go to India, often internationally not seen as one of the giants on artificial intelligence and digital, yet it is the country that pulled off perhaps the greatest story in history in terms of creating a digital identity, creating a digital platform, where government and the private sector were almost in a twin formation to make that happen.

Ngaire Woods: Thank you, Hakim. So we’ve got get the authority to move fast and bring others along. We’ve got decentralized helped, if you’re agile, and educate people, educate your citizens and staff and those they’re working with to be digitally literate. Let me move now to the minister from the United Arab Emirates, and secretary to the government there as well. What the Emirates are doing is pretty astonishing, frankly. In Abu Dhabi just a couple of months ago, one of your ministers said, one of the other ministers said, the role of government is to design a future that gives citizens hope. And I thought, wow. I don’t often hear government saying that. But what your government has achieved at breakneck speed is astonishing. Share with us how.

Maryam Al Hammadi: Good afternoon, everyone. You know that. As everyone knows that the rapid pace of the advanced technologies, rise of AI, rise of the citizen expectations make that modernization is not now becomes as a luxury, actually it becomes a necessity for governments to be relevant, competitive, and effective. And that’s why in the UAE we embarked the modernization journey very early, two decades ago, where we started with the digital transformation, mobile and smart services, AI strategy 2031, and that has resulted that we have now in the UAE 99% of our government service is digitally transformed. We have 90% satisfaction among our citizens. We have 100% of our citizens living in UAE have a digitally unified number where they can access most of the government services and some of the private services. We have also did a federal saving which is around 4 billion US dollar. We are our ITC infrastructure is ranked one globally and we are also ranked one globally on the internet speed. We are third globally in the attracting AI talent. We are fourth globally in the number of foundation of AI models released. However, UAE government knows that modernization is not about only digital transformations. One of the cornerstone of the modernization is also to make reform in your legislative system that affects most of the sector. And that’s why there’s where I come from. And that’s why we have a leadership vision of the UAE. starting from His Highness Sheikh Mohammed and Sheikh Mohammed and the cabinet, that we need to do a massive reform for all our regulations. I think, Professor Wood, you know that there was a lot of visions. We need to attract talented people, we need to attract entrepreneurs, so we need them to be living in the UAE. It’s not about attracting them alone, but actually to make them living in the UAE, and that’s why we have to do the massive reform in our regulations in all the aspects. Actually, in four years, the target was you have to work five years to change most of our regulations and update it, and that’s why in four years, 80% of the federal laws in the UAE have been changed, more than 40 laws in the UAE have been repealed. We have also introduced 30 new laws in the UAE, and I’ll give you some of the examples. For example, we have introduced a law for e-commerce, so we can manage and regulate how the people can do their business digitally, and we have now more than 24,000 companies in this area. We have also a federal regulation to regulate the virtual asset and the cryptocurrency, and the aim of it is how to protect the investors in this emerging field. We have also revamped our visa and residency system, and we introduced a golden visa of 10 years, and the aim of it is how to attract the entrepreneurs, experts, the scientists, the talents, to come and contribute to our economy, and we have 100% foreign ownership of the companies in the UAE. I think the day before, our Minister of Foreign Affairs, of economy, he has announced that we have more than 1.2 million company has been registered in the UAE and there is more, 300,000 is coming on. We have revamped our court system to be having specialized court for specialized subjects speaking in English so we can, our investors and our talents, they can, if they have any dispute, there is a court for them so they can speak fluently in this type of court. Beside this one, we have also introduced UAE legislative platform which is very friendly. All the laws of the UAE, Arabic and English, is available on that platform, free of charge, open for the whole world. It is AI designed. You can search for any law in the UAE through that platform, plus we know –

Ngaire Woods: Minister, I’m going to interrupt you for a moment because you’ve created a dazzling prospect for us. I mean it’s both dazzling and depressing because what about all other countries, you know, 4 billion in savings, satisfied citizens, investors and experts coming to the Emirates and it’s all, and that’s what you can observe with your own eyes when you come to the Emirates. You’ve highlighted for us that vital to that has been a clear vision of where you’re going, Sheikh Mohammed’s vision and his authority behind it, rather like the president of Togo saying we’re going to do this and I give you authority to do it. But Sina told us about the legacy people, or in some countries they call them the dinosaurs, but those, you know, who have been in the system a long time and want to keep doing things the way they did. What did you do with those people in the Emirates? Because when I go to the Emirates, everyone’s, the government seems incredibly young. Like

Maryam Al Hammadi: did you retire everybody? Did you? We have actually I think from time to time we have a cabinet reform, but the most important is in the cabinet, the prime minister with his minister, they are all aligned to one vision. And we have also in the general secretariat, we have other tools for the cabinet to monitor that everyone is doing his job, and we report back to the cabinet what’s going on in any of the vision that is being issued or announced. And that’s why we don’t have that legacy of people, because you know the vision, either you cope with the change that you have, or we say to you thank you and you can do anything else in somewhere else. This is the vision in the UAE, and you have seen it and you have heard about it, and there is a lot of reforms, every two years we do a reform, sometimes we introduce new ministries also in the UAE to tackle new files that have not been tackled before, or we need to tackle a file that we need some focus on it, and that’s why we bring new ministers in the cabinet. Let me give you one example also. Actually I’m going to come and just check with the audience, did you have a question,

Ngaire Woods: either for Hakim or Mariam Al-Hamadi, and I’m going to come back to your example, but I’m going to first move to Tom Siebel, a computer science and brilliant entrepreneur who founded and built C3 AI. Tom, we were talking earlier about the enormous benefits of the kind that your company delivers to companies, as well as to public agencies that can transform what public agencies do. I’m going to ask you a slightly different question, as the computer scientist in you, because another technologist, Dario Amadei, earlier today said the risk of AI, and this isn’t governments deploying AI. this is the risk of AI for governments, is that AI will stabilize and strengthen autocratic governments and destabilize and weaken democracies. He wasn’t saying that’ll happen, he was saying that’s a risk. So what I’d love to hear is, is there a way to deploy or develop AI that will strengthen democracy, that will strengthen the way that citizens can hold their governments to account.

Thomas Siebel: Well I mean there is no question that we will be using generative AI, particularly generative AI, and I think probably globally by the end of this decade as the primary means by which we are delivering government services. And you know I’m not certain this strengthens autocrats and destabilizes democracies, but when we get into the delivery of government services, when we get into whether it’s benefits programs, whether it’s public health, whether it’s education, when these services will be delivered, okay, okay, at higher quality, okay, with greater accuracy, into the hands of more satisfied constituents, okay, at lower cost through generative AI. Hard stop. And you know when we look at, when we look at the rules and regulations associated with these benefits programs that we have, be it the National Health Service in the UK, or the Affordable Care Act in the United States, or you name the program and name the country, these are, you know, the scale of the rules, regulations, and issues associated with these programs are biblical in scale, okay, and they are, you know, basically impenetrable. and inaccessible to our constituents. Now with generative AI and on the device that everybody has and will have in their pocket, I mean you’re gonna be able to ask any question about any benefit program, Pell Grant, NHS services, Affordable Care Act, how do I get into the Naval Academy, whatever it is and you’ll be able to ask the question in 133 languages and you’ll be able to get in whatever language you ask the question is, you’ll get the answer and it’ll be immediate and it’ll be right the first time rather than you waiting 41 minutes in some call center to get the wrong answer. So this is going to fundamentally change the way that we deliver services and it will be, the world will be a better place. I don’t, will, does AI, is this, are there risks associated with AI as the way that it will be used by autocrats, as the way it will be used by bad actors? Okay, will it be used to undermine democracy? Absolutely, I mean this is not a future, it’s being used today. I mean, anybody involved in Brexit? Anybody pay attention to the 2016, 2020, 2024 election in the United States of America? I mean people, this is happening today. We don’t have to wait for it to happen tomorrow but I think net, net, the services that government deliver will be delivered more efficiently, lower cost, at greater accuracy

Ngaire Woods: into the hands of more satisfied constituents and this happens hard stop. And those, so what we do know is that actively to hold a government to account, doesn’t matter if it’s democratic or non-democratic government, you need active citizens and I guess one of the arguments would be that AI makes life so easy for so many people. that they lose their agency, they lose their intentionality, they become an amorphous mass. Is there a way, do you see an AI that’s emerging that could strengthen people’s intentionality, that could strengthen their agency, that could make them active citizens that really do note what their governments are doing and hold them to account? Yeah, I’m afraid I just don’t understand how it makes us more helpless, okay? And how it reduces our agency. Let’s look at the future, okay? The future, and not very distant future, okay? We will have six billion people, okay, with the entire knowledge of mankind, okay, available in their pocket, okay? We will have six billion people who are polymaths, okay? They are like Voltaire, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and they will have instantly available everything there is to know about healthcare, agriculture, animal husbandry, okay? We’re effectively raising the IQ of the planet Earth by a substantial amount. Now, there’s a direct correlation between that, okay, and productivity. There’s a direct correlation between productivity and GDP growth at global scale. So, I mean, think about that. Think about six billion polymaths on the planet Earth who have immediately available the entire universe of human knowledge immediately at their fingertip. People, this happens. And I realize everybody wants to bemoan all of the downside and terror associated with AI and how your smart refrigerator is gonna take over your house. I get it, okay? But there are some very, very optimistic outcomes. And this one I just told you does happen? Yeah, and your advice to governments on, you know, so some people in private companies, their answer on advice to governments is just like hire us, which isn’t, you know, but what would your advice be to governments, you know, that helps them decide how to actually benefit in the ways you’ve, how to become the seamless, frictionless, trusted deliverer to their citizens? Honestly, I would embrace the private sector. I mean, I would embrace the private sector in the UK. I would embrace the private sector in the UAE.

Thomas Siebel: I would embrace the private sector in the United States. Because I think, you know, this is where, you know, I’m a strong believer. This is where innovation comes in. This is where creativity comes from. And I would embrace the private sector and I would take advantage of what they have to offer in government and government services. And protecting us from one another

Ngaire Woods: and protecting us from government. Thank you. So you’ve heard from this, today’s panel. You need vision. You need authority. You need a skilled workforce. You need a good collaboration with the private sector to help you. What are your questions or comments?

Audience: I can take a quick couple before we close. Yes. Hello, my name is Rashid from Ghana. We’re currently living in Germany and in the UK. Just a quick observation and could probably go into a bit of controversy here. What seems clear, we’ve talked about vision and authority. But what seems, if you look at the correlation between countries in the world today who are advanced in technology and also the longevity of the governance in those countries, there seems to be some sort of correlation. And if you look at what is happening in the UAE, we have the leadership and that long-term planning. Is there a question here that when we talk about rewiring, are we just talking about? suffix level, or do we need to really go back and rip out systems and do it again? I’m talking about the tenor of governance.

Ngaire Woods: That’s brilliant. Ten democracies have long-term plans and stick to them. Great. We’ve got two minutes left, so very quick other remark.

Audience: I’m a JD professor from the University of Maryland. The question will be, do you use top-down or bottom-up? Both directions are important. Top-down, what’s the benefit for the leadership? Bottom-up, what’s the benefit for the citizens? I believe you can get a very quick finding, whether people like it or not, if you have the technology. In the meantime, you can deliver transparent services to the people who you want to meet.

Ngaire Woods: So how should we do it? Brilliant. One word each from the panel. Just one word to leave the audience with. Sina?

Cina Lawson: We forgot one word. On rewiring their government. I would say leadership. Leadership.

Ngaire Woods: Erm…

Achim Steiner: I’ll pass for a moment. One word, I have to reduce.

Ngaire Woods: Minister? Just one word? Yeah. Well, I would say the people the investor needs, plus the leadership.

Maryam Al Hammadi: We have to make that balance between them. This leadership vision, bottom-up and top-down. Tom?

Thomas Siebel: I’ll give you two words or a few. But I think this is about free markets and I think it’s about open and democratic societies.

Ngaire Woods: So competitive companies, open democratic societies.

Achim Steiner: Society leads technology, not always technology leading society. Just to give a little bit of a, let’s say, aperture.

Ngaire Woods: Society leading technology. I want to close this panel by pointing to the World Economic Forum’s GovTech network. They’ve done some excellent reports, which I really recommend to you, that synthesise some of these issues. issues. The Global GovTech Centre in Berlin has been formulated by the World Economic Forum to pool this expertise. I’m sure you can speak to Kelly at the end of this panel. If you’re in the room. If you’re not in the room, go to the website, find the reports. They’re incredibly interesting and useful. We’ve got some fantastic guidance from today’s panel at breakneck speed that gives us a checklist for asking ourselves, are our governments on track? Do they have a vision? Do they have the people? Do they have the authority? Are they getting on with it? Are they collaborating with the private sector? Can you join me in thanking the panellists for such great wisdom?

Agreement Points

Importance of technology adoption in government

speakers

– Tony Blair
– Cina Lawson
– Maryam Al Hammadi
– Thomas Siebel

arguments

Technology revolution is the biggest challenge for governments today

AI and digital technologies can transform government services and efficiency

Governments need to accelerate catching up with private sector on technology

Togo used AI and mobile payments to distribute aid during COVID-19

UAE has digitally transformed 99% of government services

AI will become primary means of delivering government services

summary

All speakers emphasized the critical importance of governments adopting and leveraging new technologies, particularly AI and digital solutions, to improve service delivery and efficiency.

Challenges in implementing digital government

speakers

– Cina Lawson
– Achim Steiner

arguments

Lack of in-house skills and infrastructure can be barriers

Political challenges from those preferring old ways of doing things

Digital literacy and education are crucial for government transformation

summary

Speakers acknowledged various challenges in implementing digital government, including lack of skills, infrastructure, and resistance to change. They emphasized the need for education and capacity building to overcome these challenges.

Similar Viewpoints

Both speakers emphasized the importance of governments collaborating with and learning from the private sector to drive innovation and technological adoption in the public sector.

speakers

– Tony Blair
– Thomas Siebel

arguments

Governments need to accelerate catching up with private sector on technology

Embracing private sector expertise is key for government innovation

Both speakers provided concrete examples of successful digital transformation in their respective countries, highlighting the tangible benefits of technology adoption in government services.

speakers

– Cina Lawson
– Maryam Al Hammadi

arguments

Togo used AI and mobile payments to distribute aid during COVID-19

UAE has digitally transformed 99% of government services

Unexpected Consensus

Potential of AI to empower citizens

speakers

– Thomas Siebel
– Ngaire Woods

arguments

AI can provide instant, accurate answers about government programs

AI has potential to raise global productivity and knowledge access

Need to ensure AI strengthens rather than weakens democracy

explanation

While Siebel primarily focused on the positive potential of AI in government services, Woods raised concerns about its impact on democracy. However, both implicitly agreed on AI’s potential to empower citizens through increased access to information and government services, albeit with different emphases on the implications.

Overall Assessment

Summary

The speakers generally agreed on the importance of technology adoption in government, the potential of AI to transform public services, and the need to overcome challenges in implementing digital government. There was also consensus on the value of collaboration between the public and private sectors.

Consensus level

High level of consensus on the importance and potential of digital transformation in government. This implies a strong push towards technological adoption in the public sector, but with awareness of the need to address challenges and potential risks, particularly regarding democratic processes and citizen empowerment.

Different Viewpoints

Role of private sector in government transformation

speakers

– Achim Steiner
– Thomas Siebel

arguments

UNDP created accelerator labs to foster innovation in country teams

Embracing private sector expertise is key for government innovation

summary

While Steiner emphasizes internal innovation through UNDP’s accelerator labs, Siebel strongly advocates for embracing private sector expertise to drive government innovation.

Unexpected Differences

Long-term planning and governance structure

speakers

– Maryam Al Hammadi
– Audience member (Rashid from Ghana)

arguments

UAE reformed regulations to attract talent and businesses

Correlation between technological advancement and longevity of governance

explanation

While not a direct disagreement, the audience member’s observation about the correlation between technological advancement and governance longevity raises an unexpected point about the potential trade-offs between rapid technological progress and democratic governance structures, which was not directly addressed by the panelists.

Overall Assessment

summary

The main areas of disagreement revolve around the role of the private sector in government transformation, the approach to implementing digital technologies, and the potential implications of AI on democratic systems.

difference_level

The level of disagreement among the speakers is relatively low, with most panelists agreeing on the importance of digital transformation in government. The differences mainly lie in the specific approaches and emphases each speaker places on various aspects of this transformation. These nuanced differences highlight the complexity of implementing digital government solutions across different political and economic contexts.

Partial Agreements

All speakers agree on the importance of digital transformation in government, but they differ in their approaches and the extent of implementation. Blair speaks more broadly about potential, while Lawson and Al Hammadi provide specific examples of implementation in their respective countries.

speakers

– Tony Blair
– Cina Lawson
– Maryam Al Hammadi

arguments

AI and digital technologies can transform government services and efficiency

Togo used AI and mobile payments to distribute aid during COVID-19

UAE has digitally transformed 99% of government services

Similar Viewpoints

Both speakers emphasized the importance of governments collaborating with and learning from the private sector to drive innovation and technological adoption in the public sector.

speakers

– Tony Blair
– Thomas Siebel

arguments

Governments need to accelerate catching up with private sector on technology

Embracing private sector expertise is key for government innovation

Both speakers provided concrete examples of successful digital transformation in their respective countries, highlighting the tangible benefits of technology adoption in government services.

speakers

– Cina Lawson
– Maryam Al Hammadi

arguments

Togo used AI and mobile payments to distribute aid during COVID-19

UAE has digitally transformed 99% of government services

Key Takeaways

Technology adoption and digital transformation are critical challenges for governments today

Successful government digital transformation requires clear vision, leadership support, and collaboration with the private sector

AI and digital technologies can significantly improve efficiency and quality of government services

Digital literacy and education are crucial for both government staff and citizens

There are challenges in implementing digital government, including legacy systems, lack of skills, and political resistance

AI has the potential to revolutionize government service delivery but also poses risks that need to be managed

Resolutions and Action Items

Governments should accelerate efforts to catch up with the private sector on technology adoption

Leaders should provide clear vision and authority for digital transformation initiatives

Governments should collaborate more closely with the private sector to access expertise and drive innovation

Invest in digital literacy and education programs for government staff and citizens

Unresolved Issues

How to ensure AI strengthens rather than weakens democracy

Balancing top-down vision with bottom-up citizen needs in digital transformation

How democratic governments can implement long-term digital strategies despite shorter political cycles

Addressing privacy and security concerns in government use of AI and citizen data

Suggested Compromises

Combining top-down leadership vision with bottom-up approaches to meet citizen needs

Balancing rapid digital transformation with careful regulation to protect citizens’ rights and privacy

The instrument in their hands that can solve this challenge is the technology revolution, because I think you will hear from what is a very distinguished panel. The good news is that this instrument will, if properly utilized, transform everything.

speaker

Tony Blair

reason

This comment frames technology as a transformative tool for governments, setting the tone for the entire discussion. It’s insightful because it positions technology not just as an option, but as a necessity for solving modern governance challenges.

impact

This comment shaped the direction of the subsequent discussion, prompting speakers to focus on specific examples of how technology has transformed government services and processes.

So in no time, really, because it took less than 10 days, we built a digital platform to give financial aid through mobile payment.

speaker

Cina Lawson

reason

This comment provides a concrete example of rapid technological implementation in government, challenging the notion that governments are always slow to adapt. It’s particularly insightful as it demonstrates how crisis (COVID-19) can accelerate innovation.

impact

This example shifted the conversation towards practical applications of technology in government, inspiring other panelists to share their own experiences and best practices.

We often pretend that all of this is just a commercial and business value proposition. Actually, much of the fundamental research is publicly funded. The people who come out of universities are often the products of government-funded education systems.

speaker

Achim Steiner

reason

This comment provides a nuanced perspective on the relationship between public and private sectors in technological advancement. It’s insightful because it challenges the common narrative that innovation is solely driven by the private sector.

impact

This comment broadened the discussion to include the role of education and public funding in technological advancement, adding complexity to the conversation about government’s role in innovation.

We will have six billion people, okay, with the entire knowledge of mankind, okay, available in their pocket, okay? We will have six billion people who are polymaths, okay?

speaker

Thomas Siebel

reason

This comment presents a bold vision of the future impact of AI and technology. It’s thought-provoking because it challenges participants to consider the long-term, transformative potential of technology beyond just government services.

impact

This comment shifted the discussion towards broader societal impacts of technology, prompting consideration of how governments might need to adapt to a more informed and capable citizenry.

Overall Assessment

These key comments shaped the discussion by progressively expanding its scope. The conversation moved from identifying technology as a crucial tool for government transformation, to exploring specific examples of its implementation, then to considering the broader ecosystem of innovation including public funding and education. Finally, it expanded to contemplate the long-term societal impacts of widespread access to AI and technology. This progression allowed for a comprehensive exploration of the topic, balancing practical examples with forward-looking visions.

How can governments manage the politics and overcome resistance from ‘legacy people’ when implementing digital transformation?

speaker

Audience member

explanation

This is important to understand how to navigate internal resistance and ensure successful implementation of new technologies in government.

How can governments build the necessary skills and infrastructure in-house to implement AI and digital solutions?

speaker

Cina Lawson

explanation

This is crucial for countries to develop sustainable capabilities for ongoing digital transformation rather than relying on external partners.

How can governments effectively collaborate with the private sector in implementing new technologies while maintaining control and avoiding monopolies?

speaker

Ngaire Woods

explanation

This addresses the challenge of leveraging private sector expertise while ensuring government maintains appropriate oversight and competition.

How can governments address concerns about privacy, surveillance, and cybersecurity when implementing digital solutions?

speaker

Ngaire Woods

explanation

This is critical for maintaining public trust and protecting citizens’ rights as governments adopt new technologies.

How can AI be developed and deployed in ways that strengthen democracy and citizen engagement rather than potentially weakening it?

speaker

Ngaire Woods

explanation

This explores how to harness AI’s potential to enhance democratic processes and citizen participation rather than undermining them.

Is there a correlation between the longevity of governance and technological advancement in countries?

speaker

Audience member (Rashid from Ghana)

explanation

This question examines the potential relationship between political stability and technological progress, which could inform strategies for digital transformation.

Should government rewiring focus on surface-level changes or fundamental systemic restructuring?

speaker

Audience member (Rashid from Ghana)

explanation

This explores the depth of change required for effective digital transformation in government.

How can governments balance top-down leadership with bottom-up citizen engagement in digital transformation efforts?

speaker

Audience member (JD professor from University of Maryland)

explanation

This addresses the need to combine strong leadership with citizen input and benefits in government rewiring initiatives.