2024 · GS Paper 4 · Q1(a) · 10 marks
The application of Artificial Intelligence as a dependable source of input for administrative rational decision-making is a debatable issue. Critically examine the statement from the ethical point of view.
In short
AI can be a dependable input for administration, bringing impartiality, speed and evidence, but not a dependable decider, because it encodes bias, blurs accountability and cannot weigh compassion. The Dutch childcare-benefits algorithm scandal, which brought down the government in 2021, shows the cost of removing human judgement.
Model answer
Ghissu Editorial · Verified 4 Oct 2026 · 263 words
Impartiality
Uniform criteria narrow the discretion that breeds favouritism; Faceless Assessment (2020) allots income-tax cases by algorithm to cut taxpayer-officer contact.
Evidence over hunch
Analysing large datasets lets officers target welfare and inspections on need rather than influence.
Efficiency as duty
Screening thousands of applications or grievances quickly honours the citizen's right to timely decisions.
Encoded bias
Amazon scrapped a hiring tool in 2018 after it downgraded women, and ProPublica (2016) found racial bias in COMPAS risk scores.
Accountability gap
A Dutch fraud-detection algorithm wrongly hounded thousands of childcare-benefit families, and the government resigned in 2021; a black box cannot give the reasoned order natural justice requires.
Moral blindness
AI optimises a measurable target but cannot weigh compassion, dignity or the hard case at the margin.
Privacy
Citizen data in models engages Puttaswamy (2017) and the Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023.
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Question from the official UPSC Civil Services (Main) Examination 2024 paper. Answer written by Ghissu's engine and checked against our editorial standards. Found an error? Tell us and we correct it within 48 hours.