Public sector chatbots: AI frictions and data infrastructures at the interface of the digital welfare state

Abstract

Chatbots have become a mundane experience for Internet users. Public sector institutions have recently been introducing more advanced chatbots. In this article, we consider two cases of public sector chatbots, one in Estonia and one in Sweden, seeking to challenge the seemingly coherent understanding of artificial intelligence (AI) in the public sector. The aim is to both question the “thingness” of AI and show AI chatbots can be very different things. The material in this article is based on in-depth interviews and observations at public sector institutions that have relatively recently implemented chatbots. We employ the notion of AI frictions as a sensitizing concept to engage with the material and the diverging character of the public sector chatbots in the two countries. In the analysis, we identify AI frictions related to expectations of AI, organizational logics, as well as values connected with the digitalization of the public sector.