Emerging tech like AI can be used for greater good, say two Republic of Türkiye experts

Gülin Dizer and Merve Ayyüce Kizrak’s optimism about using the power of emerging technologies for good in government service delivery is infectious.

This writer first came across Kizrak through her blogpost, Strategy to Success: AI in the Public Sector. In it, she talks about the benefits of artificial intelligence (AI) at each stage of the policy cycle - from planning resource needs to finding irregularities in data during monitoring and evaluation.

A year-and-a-half on, she tells GovInsider that the integration of AI within the public sector has “exceeded even [her] most optimistic expectations”. She highlights its use in improving service delivery in healthcare, education and disaster management.

Similarly, Dizer talks about the “remarkable opportunities” of AI, showcasing examples in Türkiye in healthcare, tax processes and accessibility.

Just as striking, for Dizer as well as Kizrak, is their optimism about the use of AI in the public sector is the strong ethical commitment that underpin it.

Kizrak, who helped write the latest iteration of Türkiye’s AI strategy, is clear that governments can only make AI use sustainable “by prioritising ethics, security, inclusiveness and collaboration”.

“If I were to rewrite the blog post today, I would focus more on the responsible use of AI and AI resilience and adaptation. When adopting AI systems, transparency, fairness and trust are not just important, they are essential for citizens”, she notes.

To subscribe to the GovInsider bulletin click here.

Using technology to promote digital accessibility

Much of Dizer’s work focuses on digital accessibility. She calls it “a critical necessity for social and equal opportunity”, arguing that digital government can “only achieve its full potential when guided by a deep understanding of human needs and empathy”.

To illustrate this, she recalls a personal anecdote relating to her own visual impairment.

A couple of years ago when she went to a notary for a transaction requiring a signature, she explained to the staff that due to her visual impairment, it would be easier if her husband wrote the necessary text, and she signed it. After hearing this, the notary staff stopped addressing her and began speaking only to her husband.

She uses this example to show that bridging “accessibility challenges is often harder than addressing technical barriers,” and involve challenging social barriers and underlying stereotypes.

Thanks to a digital service that was launched on Türkiye’s national portal e-Government gateway, impaired individuals can now complete notary processes themselves without needing anyone else’s help, she notes.

The e-Government gateway that she mentions is a website offering access to all e-government services from a single point, led by the Digital Transformation Office (DTO) of the Presidency of the Republic of Türkiye.

Due to its strong user-centric design efforts, the site now comes with an application focused on Barrier-Free Communication for hearing impaired citizens, where they can video call or take part in a written interview rather than an audio call.

More broadly, accessibility has become an increasing priority within Türkiye’s digital government landscape.

For example, since 2022, the Ministry of Family and Social Services has been running  “AILEM Accessible Communication Centres”, equipped with trained call centre operators to support citizens with hearing impairments who encounter problems with accessing online services.

Accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week, a citizen can request a two-way video call or instant message (instead of a phone call) to avoid having to visit government offices in person.

Similarly, Türkiye is also an adopter of Europe’s “112 Accessible” emergency services initiative.

Scaling ethical AI use internationally

If Dizer’s views on digital accessibility provide an insight into how governments can use AI for good, then Kizrak is thinking about how to scale it.

Kizrak has lots of experience in this – international cooperation is one of six pillars of Türkiye’s AI strategy, and she has been a participant in OECD’s AI Governance working group.

Just as service accessibility involves strong contextual design, so too does international cooperation rest on “adapting global standards to our national circumstances, rather than simply adopting them”.

“Türkiye, like other countries, needs tailored international recommendations to develop policies that are in line with its societal values and governance structures”, she says.

In the context of an increasingly splintered AI field, exhibited in recent weeks in the Paris AI summit, the rolling back of AI safety measures, and some countries’ responses to the rollout of DeepSeek, digital government experts could have cause to be frustrated at an apparent slowing of international cooperation.

But Kizrak doesn’t let these setbacks diminish her optimism.

“In the public sector, different priorities are inevitable.

“When conflicting interests arise between government departments, or indeed countries, about the use of AI, it’s essential to create spaces where all voices can be heard and to encourage transparency and collaboration”, she says.

Lack of understanding reason for conflict

Conflicts stem from a lack of understanding; open conversations can bridge those gaps, Kizrak adds.

In short, she says, “collaboration is most successful when driven by empathy and purpose”.

Dizer’s views are similar. Talking about AI, she cites its “transformative potential in accessibility” in “converting text to speech for visually impaired individuals or automatic captioning for the hearing impaired”, or “simplifying the process of automatically identifying deficiencies on websites and recommending solutions”.

But she is clear that this cannot occur without “understanding the context of visual content or cultural nuances” that come through human feedback and empathising with situations like those she experienced herself.

These contexts are just as important when cooperating cross-border as they are when undertaking user design with those who would need to use accessible services.

Beyond the global headlines about technical cooperation, it is encouraging to see those driving digital government agendas still so positive about international cooperation, driven by the mantra that “the work you do should not only be a technical success but also make a meaningful difference in people’s lives”.

GovInsider had earlier featured Gülin Dizer and Merve Ayyüce Kizrak in our Women in our GovTech 2024 report.

To read our past coverage of Digital Transformation Office of the Presidency of Turkey, click here.