The latest generation of data-powered technologies such as Data Science and Artificial Intelligence are being widely used across the private sector and seem to have potential for the public sector also. However, past governments have struggled to maximise the potential of successive generations of information technology, lagging decades behind firms. This talk considers how these data-powered technologies can be developed from a public sector perspective. It looks at the generic tasks for which public organisations can use these technologies, and discusses their potential benefits for better governance, policy making and public services provision. It draws on the speaker’s experience of setting up and directing the Public Policy Programme at the Alan Turing Institute for Data Science and AI, as well as decades of research into the relationship between government and digital technology.