Presentation and Discussion

Should We Automate Just Because We Can?

What should determine the pace and extent of automation in the public sector? Should it be technology, law, policy, ethics? If technology does not set limits, is there a point at which governments nevertheless should say that automation should stop and the human role should be maintained? Our panellists, with experience from the public and private sector, as well as academia, from a range of countries, with backgrounds in law and policy, examine these questions. Rather than trying to give clear answers, they help us to ask the correct questions. This is a territory that transgresses a number of disciplines, that requires an ability to understand topics as different as philosophy, psychology, technology and law, and that contains questions that every government will increasingly have to deal with.