More than 80% of US government agencies are already using AI agents – and it’s just the beginning

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Highlights taken by ZDNET

• The adoption of agent AI in government is now a leadership mandate.
• 82% of government agencies have already adopted AI agents.
• 71% of government agencies plan to increase use of agent AI by 2026-2027

According to IDC research focused on public sector readiness, agent AI is no longer in the government’s experimental phase; it is a leadership mandate.

IDC finds that while many government agencies are implementing agent-driven workflows, few have moved beyond pilots. The rate of AI adoption in government is due to several factors:

• Budget pressures
• Sovereignty and conformityincluding requirements for data resiliency, algorithmic transparency, and accountability
• Labor disruption, which points to a skills gap in the practice of cybersecurity and machine learning
• Citizens’ expectations for fast, personalized, and consistent services

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Being an agency government – leadership authority

IDC research shows that the transformation of agent AI — independent digital workers who can think and act — in government includes three areas of focus: operational orchestration, delivery of citizen services, and support for policy decisions and planning.

Operations orchestration refers to agent-driven systems that coordinate multi-step workflows across departments, improving the speed and scale of service delivery. Citizen service delivery is enhanced by agents capable of delivering effective, context-aware, and personalized interactions. Agent AI can also use synthetic data and model conditions to improve the planning and delivery of new services by providing more contextual intelligence about stakeholder needs.

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Recent studies show that agent AI ratings are predicated on a strong data base, including the ability of government agencies to identify high-impact workflows for approval and implementation of AI agent data creation. In addition, government agencies must ensure that data quality and accessibility are in place. Finally, government agencies must develop a model for the operation and governance of AI agents — this is about rethinking how work is done.

IDC estimates that by 2026, 70% of Global 2000 company CEOs will focus on AI ROI for growth, driving C-suite efforts to increase revenue and reinvent business models without significant value growth. The financial pressure and pressure for rapid adoption of agent AI in the private sector also exists in the public sector.

Accelerated adoption of AI agents

More than 8 out of 10 (82%) government agencies have already adopted AI agents, according to a new IDC study based on a survey of 118 leaders and decision makers in the US across federal, state, and local governments. The survey found that 60% of government leaders believe their adoption of AI agents is outpacing the private sector.

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Government leaders see the biggest benefit of embracing a digital workforce as an improved response to citizens’ demand for faster, smarter, and more personalized services. A majority of government leaders (83%) see AI agents as key to changing government agency structures. Here are the key takeaways from IDC’s research focusing on agent AI adoption in government:

1. Discovery path for AI agents: 71% of government agencies plan to increase use of agent AI by 2026-2027

2. To change the way a task is performed: 94% of government leaders believe that AI agents will fundamentally change the nature of work. It is likely that the operational responsibilities of executive agencies will increasingly be handled by AI agents.

3. The impact of AI on society: 56% of government leaders believe that AI will have a greater impact than the Internet and cloud computing; 51% say it will have more impact than PC; and 46% say it will change more than a smartphone.

4. Key benefits of AI agent productivity: 85% of leaders estimate that AI agents save their employees up to 45% of their time per week.

5. Key uses of AI messengers: Fraud, waste, and abuse detection (44%) and cybersecurity threat management (36%) were identified as top purpose-specific use cases. Non-essential uses of AI agents include public benefits management (24%), public safety (22%), and defense-specific applications (22%).

The agent government of 2030

Nearly 9 in 10 government leaders (89%) envision a hybrid public service by 2030 — humans and AI agents working together. Almost 3 out of 4 leaders expect that every human task that currently manages subordinates will also be managed by AI agents by 2030. New teams and departments will be created to include AI agents.

What is the impact on human performance with the greater adoption of AI agents in government? The good news is that 59% of government leaders expect to see an increase in the size of certain groups and departments, including a greater need for leadership opportunities. In fact, 77% see AI agents empowering more human workers to work at higher rates and more satisfying machines. Government leaders see the adoption of agent AI not only as a technological revolution but also as a transformation in relationships, with an emphasis on human-centered soft skills.

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What types of roles are likely to focus on government agency recruitment? Over the next five years, government leaders are looking to hire AI managers and domain experts in strategy, IT and technical support, and AI governance and ethics experts. Government leaders are seeing the most disruptive impact of AI agents in IT, administrative and clerical, and managerial and leadership roles. The key to success will be AI and data learning, operational integration with AI, and responsible and ethical use of AI.

IDC research reveals that the next two years will be critical years for the adoption of AI in government. The use of AI agents will increase tenfold by 2027 in the private sector — 2,000 global companies. IDC has predicted that the number of active, deployed AI agents worldwide will exceed 1 billion by 2029, up from 25 million by 2025. These agents are predicted to perform more than 217 billion actions per day and spend 3.7 Tera Tokens/Calls (3,700,000,000,000,000,000 per day spending 8 billion per year).

Government agencies will play a major role in how many active agents are deployed around the world in the next five years. The future of business and government is autonomous, where a hybrid workforce — humans and AI agents — will add value at the speed of demand.