The Queensland department using AI to help with estimates

Welcome to Brisbane Times’ Queensland public sector column, Public Circus. This week: the use and non-use of artificial intelligence in department land, an own goal for the Games authority and all hands on deck for a bargaining agreement at City Hall.

The fast-approaching state budget means the enthralling democratic theatre of estimates is just around the corner.

Public servants have begun compiling enormous folders filled with detailed departmental notes, in preparation to face questions in late July from the government’s political rivals who have trawled through the budget line-by-line.

And at least one department has told its staff to lean on the handy help of artificial intelligence to prepare the exhaustive documents.

Circus was told workers within the Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation (DETSI) received a verbal instruction to use AI to fill out the first spine of the briefing note.

The documents are heavily relied on during estimates to provide transparent information about how the government is spending the state’s cash.

The department didn’t say if there were specific platforms it preferred its staff use, or if there are any concerns related to the use of AI.

“Using secure AI tools is optional, and importantly, they don’t replace normal approval processes which include verifying information to ensure it is accurate,” a spokeswoman said in response to questions from Circus.

But this column was told the instruction raised eyebrows within the department, where a cohort are increasingly concerned about the use of AI, particularly for tasks where accuracy is of the utmost importance – such as, how the department is spending taxpayers’ money.

The environment department refused to outline to Circus if there was a preferred platform, but it’s likely staff aren’t using the government-owned AI-powered assistant, QChat.

Premier David Crisafulli flagged the need to overhaul how public servants use artificial intelligence during a summit hosted by sector publication The Mandarin, because less than one-in-10 are using the state’s own platform.

“There’s not a lot of people using QChat, unfortunately,” he told the audience in response to a question asking if he had used the platform himself.

“We may need to look at other ways to allow people to use AI because I’m not sure QChat is delivering what it was intended to be.”

The premier said unions would need to be involved in the further adoption of AI to sensitively communicate to workers that it’s not replacing staff but is instead “a new wave of opportunity”.

The use of