Scottish AI Playbook

image credit: Linus Zoll / DeepMind / UNSPLASH

Since the release of the initial iteration of the Scottish AI Playbook in March 2022, it has existed as a collaborative online platform for users to share resources, guidance and information about AI, functioning as a library of curated resources freely and openly available for everyone to access.  

This year has seen continued development of the Playbook, development and expansion of the Playbook Partners, exploration into development of new Playbook Hubs, and ultimately reflection on the current iteration of the Scottish AI Playbook, culminating in laying the foundations for the next iteration of the Scottish AI Playbook. 

Playbook Public and User Surveys 

In order to better understand what is working with the Scottish AI Playbook, and what could be delivered better in order to create a more relevant and engaging recourse for the Scottish public, we embarked on an online survey in Autumn/Winter of 2023 in order to elicit feedback about the Scottish AI Playbook.  

Our response to the public survey, which was issued via the Scottish AI Alliance newsletter and social channels throughout November, elicited 18 responses. Responses to the public survey can be found via this link.  

Key figures from this survey are as follows:  

Most Represented age group

35-44 (50%)

Professional development/upskilling (38%)  

Primary interest in Playbook

Yes (50%) No (33%)  

Previously visited Playbook  

Better communications and promotion (27%)

Would use Playbook more if…  

Yes (44%) No (22%)  

Is the wiki the best platform for Playbook?  

Better search (20%), Regular news (20%)  

Most requested features for wiki  

AI Ethics (16%), AI in everyday life (13%)  

AI topic most interested in  

Good (81%)  

Rate quality of Playbook resources  

Review of Scottish AI Playbook and Gap Analysis 

As a result of the survey findings, as well as in keeping with the Playbook development phases, we embarked on a review of the Scottish AI Playbook to ascertain whether the Playbook in its current form was best meeting the objectives of Scotland AI Strategy. This took the form of a thorough analysis, which was scheduled as a key deliverable for Phase 3 of the Scottish AI Playbook.   

Our review consists of the following elements:  

  • Review of previous reports: including Scotland’s AI Strategy, Playbook Personas Workshop Report, User Requirements Mapping Report, SAIA Vision Setting Report, SAIA External Comms Plan  

  • Playbook brainstorming session: this generated key propositions for the Playbook around what the Playbook should be, who it is for, why users need it, and what problems does the Playbook solve?  

  • Market research: this included a trend analysis of AI playbook related search terms in the UK and globally, and an analysis of 40 different publicly available playbooks (mostly AI and tech related), broken down into playbook formats, creators and audiences.   

  • SWOT analysis 

  • Gap analysis: this has been divided into high level (for key objectives and ambitions for the Scottish AI Playbook) and feature level (for specific product features as they are agreed). Gap analysis will be completed once consensus is reached on the ambitions, direction, objectives, and more practically, the form and the features of the Playbook.  

  

From this, we proposed a new direction for the Scottish AI Playbook, one which will ensure it is a relevant, engaging and ultimately impactful cornerstone of the Scottish AI Alliance’s engagement and advisory work for a variety of different sectors.  

 

Future Direction of Scottish AI Playbook 

The key purpose of the Scottish AI Playbook is to provide a guide for various communities, government, businesses and other organisations across diverse sectors, in their journey to implement Trustworthy, Ethical and Inclusive AI. We will do this by providing a suite of Playbooks focused on targeted sectors and around high impact themes which provide guidance, roadmaps, frameworks, tools and resources to assess a variety of aspect of AI implementation, with a particular focus on Trustworthy, Ethical and Inclusive AI implementation.   

Having carried out the above review, scanned the current playbook marketplace, elicited feedback from various stakeholder groups, and closely considered the original aims and objectives for the Scottish AI Playbook as set out in Scotland’s AI Strategy, we are now working towards a new iteration of the Scottish AI Playbook, which will provide great clarity and support for targeted areas, and better deliver the Playbook’s key purpose of  providing a guiderail across various communities, government, businesses and other organisations across diverse sectors, in their journey to implement Trustworthy, Ethical and Inclusive AI.