Govt plans inclusive, secure AI-powered public services

The government wants to use artificial intelligence to make public services smarter without compromising privacy, security or the inclusion of citizens who cannot keep pace with digitalisation, said Rehan Asad, adviser to the prime minister on ICT and telecommunications, yesterday.

“We want to make sure we leave no one behind,” he said at an event at Pan Pacific Sonargaon Dhaka.

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Rehan was speaking at a session titled “Who Decides When the Model Decides? AI in the Machinery of the State”, organised by the Centre for Governance Studies as part of the Bay of Bengal Conversation.

He said the government was designing its planned “One Citizen One ID” system around five principles: simplicity, privacy, security, inclusivity and interoperability.

“These would guide it from the architecture, the planning, to the implementation,” he said.

The system will use the latest technologies, including AI, but technology will not determine how it is designed, Rehan said.

“We want to build a system that makes people’s lives easier, more accessible, and more secure,” he said.

The planned digital infrastructure will connect services that are now scattered across different government agencies through a single citizen portal, he said.

“Whether you, as a citizen, want to have your education certificate -- that should be built into your citizen portal,” he said.

Citizens should also be able to access their medical records, important documents and utility-related services through the platform, he added.

Susan Vize, head of office and representative of UNESCO in Bangladesh, said AI policies would need to evolve continuously, while AI literacy would require people to develop a range of skills.

“Policies in response to AI have to keep evolving,” she said.

Waruna Sri Dhanapala, secretary of Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Digital Economy, stressed the need to build a sustainable ecosystem for data protection and privacy.

Nicola Nixon, executive director of InsightWorks at The Asia Foundation, said digital platforms had both benefits and drawbacks, while automation could increase pressure for greater accountability.

“Digital platforms can also build the capacity for respect, as they have both upsides and downsides,” she said.

SM Ziauddin Hyder, special assistant to the prime minister on health affairs, said the government was working to establish a standard healthcare system in every union.

“We are in the process of building a standard healthcare system in each and every Union,” he said.

Kazi Faisal Bin Seraj, country representative for Bangladesh at The Asia Foundation, moderated the event.