Trust by Design: Building Confidence in AI-Powered Public Services

Trust by Design: Building Confidence in AI-Powered Public Services

In an age of smart services, data-driven insights and artificial intelligence, public sector organisations have a variety of new tools at their disposal. Councils can now predict service demand, automate form-filling and prioritise resources - all in real time. But with this growing power comes a critical challenge: maintaining public trust.

As the UK government and local authorities push ahead with digital transformation, trust has quietly become the corner stone of a smarter state. Without it, innovation stalls. Data remains unused or siloed. Promising technologies provoke suspicion rather than progress.

Trust isn't a 'nice-to-have' - it's a necessary enabler. And as recent history has unfortunately shown, it can easily be lost.

The trust gap: When smart isn't fair

The public sector's adoption of data and AI hasn't always gone smoothly. In the last few years, high-profile failures - from algorithmic grading in education to inaccessible decision-making tools in social services - have eroded confidence in how public bodies use technology.

Even well-intentioned initiatives can generate unease. Facial recognition pilots in policing, predictive analytics in welfare, and smart city surveillance programmes have all faced pushback from communities. People are concerned, sometimes even suspicious: Who benefits from the insight? What happens when the machine gets it wrong?

The smarter the state becomes, the more vital it is to design for transparency, fairness and inclusion from the outset.

Designing for trust: What it means

Building a smarter state doesn't just mean more tech. It means building public legitimacy into the way services are designed, data is used, and decisions are made.

Designing for trust means:

• Making systems understandable, not mysterious.
• Transparency is key - explain the process; avoid 'computer says no'.
• Embedding fairness into algorithms, not just accuracy.
• Engaging communities in the design of technologies that affect them.

It's not just about complying with legal standards, like the Data Use and Access Act 2025. It's about earning and sustaining the support and trust of the populace to operate in the digital era.

The opportunity:

When citizens trust public institutions, they are more likely to engage with the system, share their data, use digital services, and accept AI-assisted decisions. Trust creates the conditions for scaling innovation, especially in sensitive areas like health, social care, housing, and criminal justice.

Several examples show what's possible:

• London Borough of Camden has built a strong reputation for ethical data use through its Camden Data Charter, co-developed with residents. It sets clear expectations about how data is used, who can access it, and what safeguards are in place.
• Manchester City Council has piloted AI-assisted social care triage with explainability and frontline staff involvement baked in from the start - helping to improve outcomes without compromising judgement or transparency.
• The Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation has supported local pilots with built-in ethical oversight, encouraging iterative learning rather than top-down imposition.

These are encouraging signs - but for the smarter state to take root, this approach needs to become the rule, not the exception.

Three ways to embed trust in smart public services

1. Governance: Ethics by design

Ethical principles must move from the boardroom to operational reality. This means:

• Establishing ethical review boards for AI and data projects.
• Publishing impact assessments, in plain language, for citizens to review.
• Ensuring algorithms are auditable and explainable - not just to technical stakeholders, but to frontline staff and service users.

Trust comes not just from doing the right thing, but from being seen to do it - consistently, transparently, and accountably.

2. Participation: Co-designing with the public

Smart services must be shaped with, not just for, the communities they serve. This includes:

• Involving service users - especially vulnerable groups - in the design and testing of digital tools.
• Running forums or consultations to explore public views on contentious technologies.
• Using inclusive language and accessible formats to widen participation in digital decision-making.

When people feel heard, they're more likely to engage. When they shape the rules, they're more likely to trust the system.

3. Communication: Telling the story of technology

Public understanding of AI and data remains low - and often shaped by sensationalist and dystopian media narratives. The public sector must take responsibility for:

• Explaining how and why digital systems are used - not just through policy documents, but through engaging, visual, human-centred storytelling.
• Being honest about limitations, not just selling benefits.
• Empowering frontline workers to answer citizen questions confidently and clearly.

Smart communication is just as important as smart technology.

The Role of Leadership: Setting the tone from the top

Public trust is not something that IT teams or digital departments can deliver in isolation. It must be championed by leaders at every level - elected officials, chief executives, commissioners and heads of service.

It means creating cultures of ethical curiosity, where questions about bias, inclusion, or harm are welcomed - not dismissed as blockers.

It means rewarding teams that build things responsibly, with care, not just speed.

A Smarter State is one people trust

As the government invests in AI, automation and digital services, it must not lose sight of the human foundation that underpins them all: trust.

A smarter state isn't just more efficient - it's judged and measure by engagement by being more transparent, inclusive and responsive. It listens as well as acts. It earns its legitimacy every day.

This is not a constraint on innovation. It's the key to unlocking it.

Because if citizens don't trust the systems they're offered, they won't use them. And no amount of data science can fix that.

Let's build a smarter state that earns - and deserves - the trust of every citizen it serves.