AI agents will transform government services. Will we build a future of prosperity together?

Artificial intelligence agents are already deployed all over the private sector, from helping gate agents at airports clear their standby lists to running complex legal reviews in multi-billion-dollar real estate transactions.

Many governments around the world are also deploying these agents to enhance their services for millions of citizens. Singapore’s Government Technology Agency, for example, has deployed agentic AI that automatically matches employment benefits, grants and social services from multiple agencies within a single seamless portal — without requiring citizens to navigate each program separately. This technology could transform the lives of people who rely on government services like food assistance, housing, mental health services and workforce training.

Imagine a family completely strapped for cash trying to navigate multiple assistance programs and application processes now able to use their smartphone to enter a simple command and a bit of personal data, then only seconds later the app replies with a comprehensive assistance plan, dates of appointments, and possibly even amounts available in assistance and when they will hit the family’s bank account. A follow-up prompt from the app asks, “Can I connect you to a case manager who will help you build a financial mobility plan and send your resume out to these 5 companies who are hiring in your field of work?” 

This is the future we owe to our most vulnerable citizens. As these opportunities for increased efficiency and service delivery present themselves, what can state and local government leaders do to harness AI’s capabilities now?

Before governments begin to adopt widespread and mainstream uses of agentic processes, governments should understand the possibilities that exist right now to improve the lives of case workers and the families they serve and make service navigation less burdensome. 

Right now, in the US, an estimated $140 billion in federal benefits goes unclaimed annually due to eye-wateringly complex and disparate systems. This leaves struggling families who could use these services and funding for basic needs, housing and family stabilization out to dry. AI agents have the potential of crosswalking these systems, aiding families in legal cases, advising on job opportunities and financial sovereignty with a simple command. This would also let case workers get back to the real human-level work of family support and economic mobility that they want to do as civil servants. 

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro has deployed a pilot program that has trained over 3,000 civil service workers from various departments to work side-by-side with AI agents to widely promising results already. This can act as a test case for others to follow suit in years to come.

However, government leaders must understand the technology at an organizational level before these agents deploy. Colorado, which framed its 2024 AI governing framework on the one adopted by the European Union, has set some important guardrails for these uses for government services. These types of frameworks should be stringent enough to ensure personal data and algorithm bias are accounted for, but flexible enough to adapt at the speed of technology, not the speed of government.

Government and public sector leaders should anchor their entire strategic planning around the use of these agents. This is the biggest technological disruption in society in generations, and governments who do not respond with organizational innovation and redesign of processes, case manager job descriptions, performance management, and data privacy and security investments, will be doing a great disservice to the public they are there to serve. 

Workforce boards and programs that aren’t planning now for AI disruption in their regional economies are late to the game, but not too late to catch up. It is estimated that AI will disrupt up to 30% of jobs by 2030, according to the World Economic Forum’s 2025 Future of Jobs Report, and public workforce strategies should align their offerings, goals and community mobility objectives to reflect this sea change.

Lastly, the public sector and the private sector must align, create structured feedback loops and work in lockstep with one another on the real forecasted needs for workers in their communities. Meaningful work and upward mobility are the keys to thriving families, businesses and communities. So start with desired outcomes, not the adoption of the technology. 

Instead of companies asking themselves what the government can provide to train workers for the jobs of the future, they must be asking, what the economic outcomes are that we want for our communities. This is not always an intuitive question for business leaders whose main objective is to maximize profits, but if the long-term goals are aligned around creating healthy and stable workforces that create value over the long term, then this is the right question to be asking of our government leaders. 

The companies and agencies that build those feedback loops now will be the ones shaping outcomes for their communities a decade from now. Leading companies within a region should share real-time data with regional workforce boards on AI disruption; co-design training programs rather than reviewing them after the fact, and always seat a senior leader on the workforce board’s AI working group, if one exists.

The question was never whether the technology or tools are capable enough. They are. The question is whether leaders are. Countries abroad are already performing in ways described here, and states, cities and counties should learn from these benchmarks. Technology, like agentic AI, is not an esoteric concept. It’s already deployed and enhances productivity in many industries. Workers and families are not standing still either; they must keep moving to provide for their families and move up the economic mobility ladder. Government leaders need to act now and with intention.

Andrew Chrismer is principal consultant at Aligned Public Consulting, a Chicago-based firm specializing in strategy, AI readiness and operational design for public agencies, workforce systems and philanthropies. He has also served as chief alignment officer for a $190 million county health and human services system.