Public Administration Challenges in the World of AI and Bots

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/puar.12979
• Author: P. K. Agarwal
• Published date: 01 November 2018
• Date: 01 November 2018

Public Administration Challenges in the World of AI and Bots 917

Public Administration Review,

Vol. 78, Iss. 6, pp. 917–921. © 2018 by

The American Society for Public Administration.

DOI: 10.1111/puar.12979.

Abstract: Technology-driven disruption is taking place at a pace and scale not witnessed before in history. Waves of

technology, such as the internet of things, big data, machine learning, and artificial intelligence, are reshaping our

personal and professional lives in profound ways. A new world is emerging in which many of the current job classes

will disappear, while new ones, requiring entirely different sets of skills, are emerging. Public administrators are

unprepared for the challenges they must face in order to cope with this nonincremental and exponential change. Many

of the existing government structures and processes that have evolved over the last few centuries will likely become

irrelevant in the near future. There is a compelling need to lay the groundwork for governments to rethink how they

will be able to best serve their constituents.

“Dispense with a horse and save the expense, care

and anxiety of keeping it . . .”—thus was the

value proposition expressed in one of the first car

advertisements. (ca. 1898)

For much of human history, horses were our

primary source of power and transportation.

Environmentalists among you may see the horse

as the pinnacle of clean technology, but New York

City alone had 100,000 horses, producing 2.5 million

pounds of manure a day. The Times of London in

1894 forecast that by the 1950s, London would be

buried under 9 feet of manure.

In 1870, Siegfried Marcus built the first gasoline-

powered combustion engine, followed by Karl Benz,

who developed the first motorized vehicle in 1885.

Thirty years later, in 1915, the Ford Motor Company

passed the production milestone of one million

vehicles, and by 1927, that company alone had

produced more than 15 million cars. The shadow of

the horse loomed on in this new world, and to this

day, it is no accident that we measure vehicle engines

in horsepower.

The car was changing our roads, but away from our

cities, tractors had started to appear on the scene

and replace horses on American farms. In 1917,

Ford introduced the Fordson tractor, which could be

considered the iPad of tractors—easy to use and very

productive. Thus began a sharp, long-term decline in

the number of horses used on American farms and in

cities and a corresponding exponential increase in the

numbers of tractors and cars.

Over the next few decades, life became increasingly

difficult for those in the horse business, whether

on farms or in cities. Agricultural employment

decreased significantly, and the unemployed lacked

skills relevant for the new economy. World War I

temporarily alleviated the job crisis, but it was not

until the New Deal that this unemployment issue

was seriously addressed through public policy. Such is

the nature of disruption that comes with innovation.

Public policy is reactive by its very nature. It is very

difficult to make a case and find champions for

problems that do not yet exist.

P. K. Agarwal

Northeastern University Silicon Valley

Public Administration Challenges in the World of

AI and Bots

Viewpoint

Stephen E. Condrey

andTonya Neaves,

Associate Editors

P. K. Agarwal is chief executive officer

and regional dean of Northeastern

University Silicon Valley. Previously, he

served as chief executive officer of TiE

Global and chief technology officer for the

State of California. He is a fellow of the

National Academy of Public Administration.

E-mail: pk.agarwal@northeastern.edu

Figure 1 Car Advertisement, ca. 1898