We built the wrong AI for the right problems: why public sector AI gets it wrong from the start

Original language	English
Journal	AI and Society
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-025-02613-2
Publication status	Early online date - 16 Sept 2025

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ASJC Scopus subject areas

• Artificial Intelligence
• Public Administration
• Human-Computer Interaction

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• 10.1007/s00146-025-02613-2Licence: Unspecified

• We built the wrong AI for the right problems: why public sector AI gets it wrong from the start

  Copyright 2025 the authors. This is an accepted manuscript distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the author and source are cited.

  Accepted author manuscript, 185 KBLicence: CC BY

Student theses

• AI for public good: reorientating fairness, accountability and uncertainty in public sector governance

  Elliott, M. T. J. (Author), MacCarthaigh, M. (Supervisor) & Padmanabhan, D. (Supervisor), Jul 2026

  Student thesis: Doctoral Thesis › Thesis with Publications

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Elliott, M. T. J. (2025). We built the wrong AI for the right problems: why public sector AI gets it wrong from the start. AI and Society. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-025-02613-2

Elliott, Marc T.J. / We built the wrong AI for the right problems: why public sector AI gets it wrong from the start. In: AI and Society. 2025.

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title = "We built the wrong AI for the right problems: why public sector AI gets it wrong from the start",

author = "Elliott, \{Marc T.J.\}",

year = "2025",

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Elliott, MTJ 2025, 'We built the wrong AI for the right problems: why public sector AI gets it wrong from the start', AI and Society. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-025-02613-2

We built the wrong AI for the right problems: why public sector AI gets it wrong from the start. / Elliott, Marc T.J.
In: AI and Society, 16.09.2025.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Letter › peer-review

TY - JOUR

T1 - We built the wrong AI for the right problems: why public sector AI gets it wrong from the start

AU - Elliott, Marc T.J.

PY - 2025/9/16

Y1 - 2025/9/16

U2 - 10.1007/s00146-025-02613-2

DO - 10.1007/s00146-025-02613-2

M3 - Letter

SN - 0951-5666

JO - AI and Society

JF - AI and Society

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Elliott MTJ. We built the wrong AI for the right problems: why public sector AI gets it wrong from the start. AI and Society. 2025 Sept 16. Epub 2025 Sept 16. doi: 10.1007/s00146-025-02613-2