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While false rumours, inaccurate reporting, and conspiracy theories have existed for as long as there were people to create and spread them, the Internet has reshaped and amplified the ability to produce and perpetuate false and misleading content. Stopping the creators and spreaders of untruths online is essential to reducing political polarisation, building public trust in democratic institutions, improving public health, and more generally improving the wellbeing of people and society. This Going Digital Toolkit note discusses the importance of access to accurate information online and presents a novel typology of the different types of untruths that circulate on the Internet. It considers how untruths are spread online as well as the consequences, and it surveys the evidence base of false and misleading information online. The note concludes by identifying approaches to fighting untruths online and mitigating their negative effects.

Providing public services that deliver on the potential of digital technology and data presents a challenge for many governments. Yet, 'being digital' is not optional, but a core condition, for governments seeking to provide services that are user-driven, inclusive, resilient, innovative and trustworthy. Achieving digital government maturity requires holistic, comprehensive transformation from within and throughout the machinery of government. It involves reshaping organisations’ culture, capability (including talent, skills and resources), and governance to support user-centred approaches, agility, integration and cohesion to design and deliver quality public services that meet the needs of citizens and businesses. This Going Digital Toolkit note presents action-oriented principles to guide policy makers and public servants when designing and delivering public services fit for the digital age. The Annex contains a selection of practices by a variety of countries for each principle.

Governments can use artificial intelligence (AI) to design better policies and make better and more targeted decisions, enhance communication and engagement with citizens, and improve the speed and quality of public services. The Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region is seeking to leverage the immense potential of AI to promote the digital transformation of the public sector. The OECD, in collaboration with CAF, Development Bank of Latin America, prepared this report to help national governments in the LAC region understand the current regional baseline of activities and capacities for AI in the public sector; to identify specific approaches and actions they can take to enhance their ability to use this emerging technology for efficient, effective and responsive governments; and to collaborate across borders in pursuit of a regional vision for AI in the public sector. This report incorporates a stocktaking of each country’s strategies and commitments around AI in the public sector, including their alignment with the OECD AI Principles. It also includes an analysis of efforts to build key governance capacities and put in place critical enablers for AI in the public sector. It concludes with a series of recommendations for governments in the LAC region.

The development and use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) continue to expand opportunities for the achievement of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including gender equality. Taking a closer look at the intersection of gender and technology, this collaboration between UNESCO, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) examines the effects of AI on the working lives of women. This report describes the challenges and opportunities presented by the use of emerging technology such as AI from a gender perspective. The report highlights the need for more focus and research on the impacts of AI on women and the digital gender gap, in order to ensure that women are not left behind in the future of work.

As artificial intelligence (AI) integrates all sectors at a rapid pace, different AI systems bring different benefits and risks. In comparing virtual assistants, self-driving vehicles and video recommendations for children, it is easy to see that the benefits and risks of each are very different. Their specificities will require different approaches to policy making and governance. To help policy makers, regulators, legislators and others characterise AI systems deployed in specific contexts, the OECD has developed a user-friendly tool to evaluate AI systems from a policy perspective. It can be applied to the widest range of AI systems across the following dimensions: People & Planet; Economic Context; Data & Input; AI model; and Task & Output. Each of the framework's dimensions has a subset of properties and attributes to define and assess policy implications and to guide an innovative and trustworthy approach to AI as outlined in the OECD AI Principles.

This paper exploits natural language processing techniques to detect explicit labour-saving goals in inventive efforts in robotics and assess their relevance for different occupational profiles and the impact on employment levels. The analysis relies on patents published by the European Patent Office between 1978 and 2019 and firm-level data from ORBIS® IP. It investigates innovative actors engaged in labour-saving technologies and their economic environment (identity, location, industry), and identifies technological fields and associated occupations which are particularly exposed to them. Labour-saving patents are concentrated in Japan, the United States, and Italy, and seem to affect low-skilled and blue-collar jobs, along with highly cognitive and specialised professions. A preliminary analysis does not find an appreciable negative effect on employment shares in OECD countries over the past decade, but further research to econometrically investigate the relationship between labour-saving technological developments and employment would be helpful.

The significant increase in flows of personal data has spurred policy makers to try to develop a coherent approach to privacy governance both domestically and across borders. In this context, the need for the interoperability of privacy and data protection frameworks ('privacy interoperability') has taken on greater importance. While there is broad agreement on the importance of privacy interoperability, how to achieve this in practice is less well understood. This Going Digital Toolkit note describes the issues around ensuring the interoperability of privacy and data protection frameworks, and it highlights promising initiatives by governments and privacy enforcement authorities at the national and international levels. This note seeks to contribute to a shared understanding of privacy interoperability in the context of the governance of privacy and data protection and transborder flows of personal data.

This paper concludes the project 'Support to Improve Effectiveness of Lithuania’s Innovation Policy' which summarises the findings, policy options and recommended actions. It aimed at providing support to efforts of the Government of Lithuania to better deliver existing policies, and develop and implement appropriate new policies, instruments and institutions in selected areas of science, technology and innovation (STI) policy. The report takes stock of recent policy actions taken since the 'OECD Review of Innovation Policy: Lithuania 2016'. Drawing on international good practices it explores the scope for improvement in selected areas of STI policy: a) consolidation of innovation agencies and enhancing Lithuania’s STI Council, b) public procurement of innovation , c) mission-oriented innovation policies, and d) industry 4.0 and artificial intelligence. The project has been aligned with ongoing Lithuanian reform processes, some of which are reflected in the ‘New Generation Lithuania’ plan related to the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility.