Management of artificial intelligence in the public sector

• The State has no national strategy, no single set of objectives and no single vision for action to harness the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) to make administrative processes more efficient and save the budget. AI projects lack strategic coordination, resulting in fragmented AI adoption initiatives.
• The development of AI in the public sector may pose significant security challenges. Clear methodological guidance and practical manuals are needed to help ensuring data security, privacy and integrity. Most institutions do not identify the risks of the AI and do not have the tools to manage them.
• The use of AI in the public sector would be ensured by the proper management of the computing capacity, data and competences required for its functioning.

The strategic and responsible use of AI in the public sector would enable the sector to work more efficiently, optimise and automate repetitive processes, improve the quality of services provided, and save public budgets. The results of the National Audit Office's audit " Management of Artificial Intelligence in the Public Sector"* show that there is a lack of a strategic vision for harnessing the benefits of AI; a lack of practical methodological guidance and risk assessment recommendations for responsible adoption of the technology; and a lack of management of key resources, from planning computing capacity to ensuring data and competences.

"Today we have a clear signal - the potential of AI in the public sector is enormous and it can be a key tool for making the public sector more efficient. However, without a strategic approach, proper resource management and clear security guidelines, we risk not only losing opportunities for efficient state governance and cost savings but also facing serious security risks. Our audit clearly shows that it is time to move from fragmented initiatives to the implementation of a national strategy. This requires a clear political decision and coordinated action by all responsible institutions. Implementing the recommendations of the National Audit Office - ensuring the strategy, risk and data management, and competence development of public sector employees - could make Lithuania a leader in digital transformation," said Auditor General Irena Segalovičienė.

Lithuania ranks 33rd out of 188 countries in the government's AI readiness ranking. 15.3% of public sector entities are already applying AI solutions in their operations, but these initiatives are fragmented, with no national strategy and no long-term plan for AI application. There is a lack of country-wide information on the adoption and use of AI solutions in the public sector, a lack of data on best practices in the AI application, and a lack of methodological guidance in this area.

The public sector does not yet have guidelines or requirements that define AI risk assessment. Public sector entities do not identify and assess the risks of using these technologies in their operations, nor do they carry out impact assessments or have a risk mitigation plan.

Although the development of language resources for AI solutions has been provided necessary conditions and funded with EUR 42.35 million, the implementation of the projects has been delayed, and the development of the resources and their availability to the public sector has been postponed until 2026. Ensuring proper management of the computing capacity, data, competences and human resources needed for the functioning of the AI would improve the adoption of the AI in the public sector.

The implementation of the National Audit Office's recommendations would lead to a strategic approach to the application of AI technologies, improve the legal framework in this area and thus create the conditions for effective management of AI technologies in the public sector. Moreover, the proper management of the resources needed for AI functionality would enable the effective implementation of projects related to the adoption of AI solutions in the public sector.
 

* The audit contributes to an international audit on the use of AI in the public sector initiated by the Israeli Supreme Audit Institution. The international audit, which involves 11 countries, assesses AI in the areas of national strategy, funding, infrastructure, digital maturity, legal framework, information security, public projects, human resources and natural language processing. The results of the international audit are expected to be published in September 2025.