AI: Friend or Foe? Leading with Purpose at Solace East Midlands Symposium

Last week, ICS.AI was proud to attend and sponsor the Solace East Midlands Symposium, bringing together senior local government leaders from across the region to explore what it really means to lead with purpose in a time of profound change.

A recurring theme across the symposium was that local government is no longer deciding if it should use AI, but how to do so safely, ethically and in a way that delivers real outcomes for residents and staff.

As part of the programme, we delivered a breakout session titled: “AI: Friend or Foe? Leading with Purpose in the Age of Intelligent Public Services”, along with Paul Simpson, Chief Executive and Andy Brammall, Director of Digital & Physical Infrastructure & Customer Engagement from Derby City Council.

What followed was not a theoretical discussion about AI’s potential, but a practical, evidence-led conversation about what happens when AI is deployed properly, at scale, and with leadership intent.

The Question Isn’t Whether to Use AI - Rather, How

In our breakout, ICS.AI CEO, Martin Neale, opened with a simple but important insight drawn from our latest public research:

“AI isn’t the threat. Poorly led AI is.”

Residents are already using AI in their daily lives. They expect public services to modernise.

But they are also clear about what they want:

• Human oversight

• Trust and transparency

• Accessibility and inclusion

• AI that augments people, rather than replaces them

When those conditions aren’t met, AI quickly shifts from friend to foe.

Derby City Council: From Pilots to Purposeful Transformation

Derby City Council’s story resonated strongly with the room because it moves beyond pilots and experimentation.

As Paul Simpson shared, Derby faced the same pressures as every council:

• Rising demand

• Financial constraint

• Limited capacity

The response was not incremental change, but a clear, corporate mandate: AI would be adopted as a strategic capability, not an optional experiment. There were no opt-outs.

This leadership clarity proved decisive.

One Platform. One Operating Model. Organisation-Wide Impact.

Andy Brammall took delegates through how Derby operationalised that intent, starting with an AI-first front door for residents.

Rather than layering AI on top of existing processes, Derby redesigned how demand enters and flows through the organisation:

• A single AI front door across phone and web

• Staff Copilots available to every colleague

• Agentic automation across the back office

• Human-in-the-loop by design, especially for vulnerable residents

This unified approach is underpinned by an organisation-wide AI Target Operating Model (“AI for All”), aligning technology, governance, skills and value realisation.

The results speak for themselves:

• Millions of resident queries handled

• Significant reductions in waiting times and misdirected calls

• Improved accessibility, including multilingual support

• £12 million in identified savings

Crucially, these outcomes were achieved while protecting services, not cutting them.

Why Leadership Matters More Than Technology

One of the strongest messages from the session - and echoed throughout the symposium - was that AI success is primarily a leadership challenge, not a technical one.

AI fails when it is:

• Fragmented into disconnected pilots

• Treated as an IT project rather than an operating model change

• Deployed without ownership, governance or skills

AI succeeds when it is:

• Mandated from the top, achieving buy-in at all levels

• Designed around outcomes, not tools

• Embedded into everyday workflows

• Governed with humans firmly in charge

As Derby’s journey shows, when leaders set clear intent and back it with the right structures, AI becomes an enabler of better public service — not a risk to be managed (read more about this in our latest White Paper - AI Transformation - from Strategy to Value).

AI Is Expanding Beyond the Screen

Most AI deployments in local government today remain digital:

• Contact centres

• Web self-service

• Staff Copilots

• Back-office automation

These are delivering real value — and Derby City Council’s results demonstrate that clearly. But as Martin set out in the session, AI transformation is now entering its next phase.

AI is no longer confined to screens and workflows. It is moving into:

• Frontline environments

• Physical assets and infrastructure

• Hands-free, real-time decision support

• Assisted and semi-autonomous physical systems

This shift fundamentally raises the stakes. When AI operates in the physical world — supporting highways, housing, social care, environmental services or frontline staff through smart glasses and robots — governance, control and human oversight matter more than ever.

From Risk to Trusted Ally

The Solace East Midlands Symposium created space for honest, practical discussion about the realities leaders are facing — from political change to financial pressure to workforce capacity.

Our breakout reinforced a simple truth: AI becomes a friend when it is led with purpose.

Thank you to Solace, to the delegates who engaged so thoughtfully in the session, and especially to Derby City Council for openly sharing their journey — lessons, challenges and all.

If you’re exploring how to move from AI curiosity to AI-native delivery, we’d be delighted to continue the conversation.

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