Mutuality in AI-enabled new public service solutions

ABSTRACT

This article explores the policy background of AI in ethical public services by applying the perspective of mutuality and trust to give a better understanding of the ethical evaluation of AI-enabled public services. The findings from Finnish government services emphasize that establishing governance rules arising from mutuality is not often viewed as a precursor to ethical evaluation, which was done post-facto with limited user engagement. We conclude that structured by a social mutuality framework, mutuality requires a systemic approach to ethics and active user engagement, which in turn requires an investment of time and cognitive attention by all agents involved.

KEYWORDS:

• Artificial intelligence
• mutuality
• trust
• public services
• framework

Acknowledgments

The data for this study were collected under the project ‘Ethical AI for the Governance of the Society’ (ETAIROS), funded by the Academy of Finland and the Strategic Research Council (SRC), and conducted at the School of Management, University of Tampere, in 2020–2021. The authors express their gratitude for the support received in developing their research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Strategic Research Council [].

Notes on contributors

E. Koskimies

E. Koskimies (MSc Admin.) is a Doctoral Researcher in the field of administrative science at Faculty of Management and Business, Tampere University, Finland. Koskimies’ doctoral research and current research interests focus on artificial intelligence in public service provisioning, mutuality in multi-agent collaboration and ethics of AI-powered public service innovation processes. She has worked in projects such as Ethical AI for the Governance of the Society ETAIROS that focuses on the ethical sustainability of applying Artificial Intelligence (AI) and associated technologies to society.

T. Kinder

T. Kinder, Following a period as an engineering Trade Union Official, Tony Kinder chaired several venture capital investment funds and occupied leading positions in Lothian Regional and West Lothian local Councils. He then worked at the University of Edinburgh Business School as Director of Programmes and later MBA Director and is now a visiting Professor at Tampere University and visiting Professor at the University of Science and Technology, Beijing. His research is on learning in service innovation processes around which he has published over 70 papers in academic journals, many with Jari Stenvall over 15-years. Their current research is on governance of ecosystems, public value, and mutuality, and the ethical use of advanced technology in integrated local public services in Finland and Scotland.