Legal and Ethical Issues Arising from the Use of Chatbots in Public Administration

Deploying chatbots in public administration (PA) can offer numerous benefits, enhancing public service delivery and efficiency. However, their deployment comes with various legal and ethical considerations. In the European Union (EU), the AI Act and the GDPR constitute the basic legal framework for using chatbots in PA. This paper aims to map the current legal and ethical issues of using chatbots in PA. Through a Systematic Literature Review, we managed to identify these concerns. Our findings reveal various legal issues like legality, governance, accountability, and data protection, as well as numerous ethical issues such as privacy protection, data quality, algorithmic bias, transparency, specialization, and expertise, the impact on workforce dynamics and Human-Machine interaction, and finally social acceptance. Moreover, strategies are recommended for implementing chatbots in PA in a legally compliant and ethical manner. Finally, we discuss the implications of these challenges in adopting chatbots in PA and suggest directions for future research and regulatory adjustments.