AI at Work: Accelerating the Next Era of Government Transformation
Something remarkable is happening across the public sector. After years of cautious pilots and theoretical debates, AI is no longer a speculative investment or a novelty on the edges of mission work. It has become a strategic capability that the government is integrating into its core operations.
This change was on display at ACT-IAC’s CX Summit, where leaders from Microsoft, Google, OpenAI, and IBM joined Leidos to discuss how AI is transforming government operations and the citizen experience. During the discussion, an overarching realization emerged: government is not tiptoeing into AI—it is scaling AI, operationalizing AI, and increasingly embedding AI. In doing so, organizations at every level of the government are beginning to rethink not just how work gets done, but what the work should be.
The mindset shift: from fear to forward motion
Not too long ago, AI conversations centered heavily on risk. Leaders worried about hallucinations, compliance, and unintended consequences. While these concerns remain valid, they no longer define the dialogue. Leaders now recognize that avoiding innovation poses its own strategic risks. The safer path is the one that moves forward—thoughtfully, responsibly, but decisively.
This shift mirrors an equally important evolution in AI’s role. Early efforts focused on chat interfaces and document summarization—useful tools, but not transformational ones. Today, the government is deploying AI inside full operational workflows. They’re using it not to polish the edges, but to accelerate entire missions. Yesterday’s digital assistant is today’s operational partner, capable of ingesting thousands of pages, connecting siloed systems, and guiding complex decisions.
The striking part is how natural this transition has become. The novelty has faded, giving way to practicality and expectations that government services match private sector offerings.
AI forces a data reckoning
Every panelist echoed a reality that can no longer be ignored: AI transformation is impossible without data transformation. Government data is often fragmented, stale, scanned, inconsistent, or locked inside legacy applications that couldn’t imagine operating with intelligent systems.
But the reckoning is here. Modern models can read, classify, and reason across massive collections of documents, revealing gaps and inconsistencies that were previously invisible. Instead of embarking on daunting, multi-year system replacements, government agencies are increasingly connecting their systems through APIs, data layers, and cloud platforms.
AI isn’t just consuming data; it’s exposing data’s weaknesses, and in doing so, accelerating long-overdue modernization.
Proof in action: where AI is already changing outcomes
Unlike past waves of innovation, the most compelling AI stories in the government are not prototypes — they're operational successes. During the conversation, participants shared their successes with AI:
- At Leidos, AI and predictive analytics are utilized not only to maintain real-time visibility into operations and support, but also to anticipate potential issues and expedite support resolution, reducing wasted time, money, and resources.
- NASA and Google’s “Doc in a Box” is an agentic AI decision-support system intended to help astronauts by offering near-expert guidance when communication delays make Earth-based support impossible. The technology represents a new kind of resilience where failure is not an option.
- OpenAI is helping state and local governments streamline complex tenant construction applications by validating forms before submission. According to their website, the program helped reduce the time spent on routine tasks by approximately 105 minutes per day, freeing up employees to tackle other organizational priorities.
- Microsoft’s Wale (Woli) Moses referenced the company’s AI work in analyzing grant applications, policy documents, and call transcripts to expedite reviews. According to Moses, one agency now completes certain reviews 80 percent faster.
- IBM’s partnership with the Veterans Benefits Administration means review times for claims processing went from – in some cases- five months to five hours. As a result, millions of hours of labor have been reclaimed. And most importantly, veterans receive critical benefits with unprecedented speed.
Across missions and the government, AI is pushing the envelope, producing outcomes previously thought impossible.
Rethinking the work itself
One of the summit’s most enlightening insights was that AI should not simply automate old processes. Instead, it should challenge the assumptions behind those processes. Much of government’s workflow design predates modern digital capabilities. AI empowers agencies to ask: if we designed this process today, how would it work?
AI doesn’t just streamline work, it forces organizations to rethink the nature and logic of the work itself.
The call to action
The consensus from the panelists was unequivocal: the government must continue exploring AI’s possibilities; not recklessly, but boldly with mission-aligned priorities, modular platforms, and a workforce empowered to experiment.
As we march into the future, AI’s role in the government will no doubt continue to grow. Organizations that devise implementation plans and prep their staff accordingly will outperform those that do not. The question is no longer whether AI will reshape government, but how quickly and deliberately they will harness its potential.
The future isn’t approaching; it has arrived. Now’s the time to meet it.
