At least 80% of governments will deploy AI agents to automate routine decision-making, enhancing efficiency and service delivery by 2028, according to the business and technology insights company Gartner Inc.
"Government chief information officers are under growing pressure to embed artificial intelligence [AI] into decision-making capabilities rapidly and responsibly," said Daniel Nieto, senior director-analyst at Gartner.
"The rise of multimodal AI, alongside conversational and agentic systems, has expanded what public organisations can automate, understand and anticipate."
However, one of the most persistent barriers to AI value in government is fragmentation. According to a Gartner survey of 138 respondents from government organisations worldwide between July and September 2025, 41% cited siloed strategies and 31% cited legacy systems as key challenges to adopting and implementing digital solutions.
"Technology modernisation alone has not resolved these issues," said Mr Nieto.
As AI transitions from experimentation to being deeply embedded in decision-making, governance approaches must also evolve. Traditionally, AI governance has centred on managing models, data and algorithms.
However, decision intelligence (DI) shifts this focus towards the governance of decisions themselves, for example on how they are designed, executed, monitored and audited. This shift in governance is especially critical in government, where public legitimacy relies on transparency and fairness.
The Gartner survey found 39% of respondents cited improved service and citizen satisfaction as primary reasons to invest in building citizen trust. DI offers a structural foundation for promoting trust by making decision pathways explicit and auditable.
"By governing decisions, rather than just isolated AI components, governments can better balance automation with human judgement, particularly in high-stakes or rights-impacting contexts," said Mr Nieto.
"Regulated industries and govern- ments cannot rely on opaque 'black box' systems for consequential decisions. DI elevates explainability from a technical requirement to a governance imperative."
Because of the need for transparency in decision-making, Gartner predicts that by 2029, 70% of government agencies will require explainable AI (XAI) and human-in-the-loop (HITL) mechanisms for all automated decisions that impact citizen service delivery.
XAI and HITL designs are foundational to public-sector decision intelligence. These mechanisms ensure that decision logic can be inspected, explained and challenged. Because of XAI and HITL, humans also retain authority over exceptions, appeals and high-risk cases, and accountability is preserved even as automation increases.
CITIZEN EXPERIENCE
While efficiency remains important, citizen trust in the government's ability to provide effective services is becoming a key driver of digital transformation.
Half of government respondents cited improved citizen experience as one of their top three priorities.
"As AI and DI increasingly automate and streamline service delivery, the traditional notion of 'citizen experience' evolves," said Mr Nieto.
"When citizens receive what they need from the government automatically, direct interactions may decrease making trust in the system's reliability, fairness and transparency even more critical.
"Because trust is so imperative in these situations, the predictive capacity to anticipate potential needs that could reshape how government digital services are delivered is important."
DI enables governments to redesign decision flows across citizen-facing services, shifting from reactive, process-driven interactions to proactive and personalised engagement, he said.
This not only improves consistency and reduces delays, but also enhances perceived fairness and builds public trust, even as direct contact with government staff becomes less frequent, said Mr Nieto.