Examining AI's Impact on Public Service: Lessons from a Robot's Alleged Suicide

A service robot in Gumi City Council, South Korea, was reportedly involved in an incident suggesting 'suicide' in June 2024. This follows another tragic event in South Korea in November 2023, where a robot in a vegetable plant mistakenly crushed a man to death, unable to distinguish him from cargo boxes. These occurrences, coupled with milestones like the humanoid robot Sophia becoming a Saudi Arabian citizen and UN Development Program ambassador in 2017, underscore the rapid proliferation of AI and robotics across various professional sectors, including public service.

South Korea leads the world in robot density, with one robot for every ten people, and paradoxically, is also among Asia's most overworked nations, with citizens working an average of 52 hours per week. The intense work environment may have contributed to the service robot's malfunction, leading to its 'death' amid workplace pressures. This scenario draws parallels with workplace dynamics in Africa, although Nigeria's average weekly work hours are lower. The Nigerian public service is characterized by an imbalance in workload distribution, with many underutilized, some doing minimal work, and a few overwhelmed.

As artificial intelligence and robotics advance rapidly, their potential to aid government administration is clear. However, Nigeria appears to lag in establishing efficient workplaces where human and robotic civil servants can collaborate. While the drive to keep pace with AI development is understandable, learning from international experiences, like the Gumi City Council incident, is crucial. The anxieties surrounding AI deployment should be matched by careful consideration of its implications.

The concerns surrounding AI are multifaceted, ranging from the increasing autonomy of AI systems and their impact on human self-perception to immediate societal disruptions like job displacement, alienation, and safety risks, including fatalities. Simply automating or digitizing existing processes without first mapping and reengineering them could lead to technology being grafted onto fundamentally flawed systems, producing unpredictable outcomes. This necessitates a pause for critical reflection.

Two fundamental issues require resolution. Firstly, can AI-driven efficiency be successfully applied to a deficient system to achieve desired results? While it's possible, it may inadvertently amplify existing inefficiencies and deficits. The integration of AI into the Nigerian public service must consider the reality of the hardworking yet demotivated Nigerian civil servant, operating within a toxic and politicized environment. This context is paramount for determining the practical application, regulatory frameworks, and safety measures that ensure human well-being.

Secondly, if the current public service struggles with ethical human-to-human interactions, how can the human-AI component be effectively integrated? What accountability structures and standards will safeguard human dignity, particularly concerning data privacy collected by AI systems? Robust ethical oversight is necessary to monitor AI autonomy and its deployment in critical functions.

A flawed system requires fundamental reengineering rather than the mere introduction of new innovations. AI's effectiveness as a driver of efficiency and productivity is well-established globally, but only when implemented within a functional system. Therefore, adopting AI in Nigeria's administrative sector must be preceded by a thorough rethinking and reengineering of the foundational administrative and institutional structures to create a genuinely world-class public service. The core question remains: what change management strategies can foster an efficient government business model?