Artificial intelligence (AI) offers significant potential to enhance public services and drive innovation within Sri Lanka’s public sector. At the AI Asia Summit 2024 in Colombo, Merl Chandana, Research Manager and head of the Data, Algorithms, and Policy (DAP) team at LIRNEasia, shared insights on how the government can harness AI effectively and responsibly. Speaking on a panel titled “AI for National Economic Growth and Innovation: enhancing services and driving efficiency,” Merl outlined key considerations for adopting AI in ways that truly benefit citizens. Practical steps for AI adoption in public services Merl emphasized that while AI offers vast possibilities, public sector adoption must be both strategic and phased. After highlighting a few ongoing AI pilot initiatives in Sri Lanka’s public sector, he noted that these projects often begin with a strong data foundation and empowered decision-makers with deep expertise in their fields. 
Artificial intelligence (AI) offers significant potential to enhance public services and drive innovation within Sri Lanka’s public sector. At the AI Asia Summit 2024 in Colombo, Merl Chandana, Research Manager and head of the Data, Algorithms, and Policy (DAP) team at LIRNEasia, shared insights on how the government can harness AI effectively and responsibly. Speaking on a panel titled “AI for National Economic Growth and Innovation: enhancing services and driving efficiency,” Merl outlined key considerations for adopting AI in ways that truly benefit citizens. Practical steps for AI adoption in public services Merl emphasized that while AI offers vast possibilities, public sector adoption must be both strategic and phased. After highlighting a few ongoing AI pilot initiatives in Sri Lanka’s public sector, he noted that these projects often begin with a strong data foundation and empowered decision-makers with deep expertise in their fields.
The “twittersphere” has been abuzz, with claims of anti-intellectualism and a few admissions of fault since Nicholas Kristof’s philippic appeared. “Political science Ph.D.’s often aren’t prepared to do real-world analysis,” says Ian Bremmer, a Stanford political science Ph.D.
It is perhaps a sign of their efficacy that think tanks in India have come under the gun, on the ground that they are funded by foreign sources and are therefore “subversive.” Rohini Nilekani, a significant philanthropist in her own right, has made a powerful argument on the contributions made to Indian public policy by think tanks and the questioning of some of these organizations obtaining some of their resources from outside India. The piece in Open on ‘Foreign Funding of NGOs’ with the subtitle ‘Should FDI in India’s thinktank sector worry us?’, has served its purpose by triggering a long-overdue reasoned debate. The author lays out various questions that might warrant their own conference or white paper.
Trade in services came on the policy scene in the 1980s. It played an important role in reforming telecom sectors across the world, especially because of the Regulatory Reference Paper that was an integral part of the Basic Telecom Services agreement. Trade agreements are simply one more element used to lock in regulatory commitment, thus facilitating investment and thereby good performance. The famous story about how one can trade hair-cutting services across borders illustrates the connection with ICTs. How can one trade hair cuts, a service that is consumed at the moment of production?