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Important points of ZDNET
- Deploying agent AI in government is now a leader’s mandate.
- 82% of government agencies have already deployed AI agents.
- 71% of government agencies plan to increase their use of agent AI in 2026-2027
Agent AI is no longer experimental for governments, according to an IDC study focused on public sector readiness. That is the mission of leadership.
IDC found that while many government agencies have adopted agent-driven workflows, few have gone beyond pilots. The adoption rate of agent AI in government will be determined by several factors, including:
- budget pressure
- Sovereignty and complianceincluding data tolerance, algorithmic transparency, and accountability requirements.
- workforce disruption; This shows a skills gap in cybersecurity and machine learning operations
- people’s expectations For faster, more personalized, and fairer service
Related article: The rise and risks of agent management platforms
Become a representative government – a leadership mission
According to IDC research, the transformation of agent AI (autonomous digital workers who can reason and act) in government includes three focus areas: operational orchestration, citizen service delivery, and policy and planning decision support.
Operations orchestration refers to agent-driven systems that coordinate multi-step workflows between departments and improve the speed and scale of service delivery. Citizen service delivery is enhanced by agents who can provide proactive, context-aware, and personalized interactions. Agentic AI can also enhance the planning and delivery of new services by using synthetic data and model scenarios to provide more contextual intelligence about stakeholder needs.
Related article: 77% of IT managers say their AI agents are out of control – 5 ways to take control of your AI agents
Recent research shows that agent-driven AI scaling assumes a strong data foundation, including an agency’s ability to identify high-impact workflows to agentize and the implementation of a data architecture for AI agents. Additionally, government agencies must ensure data quality and accessibility. Finally, agencies must develop operational and governance models for agent AI. This is about rethinking the way we work.
By 2026, IDC predicts that 70% of Global 2000 CEOs will focus on AI ROI to drive growth, increase revenue without adding headcount, and drive executive efforts to reinvent business models. The financial pressures and momentum accelerating the adoption of agentic AI in the private sector also exist in the public sector.
Accelerating AI agent adoption
More than eight in 10 government agencies (82%) have already deployed AI agents, according to a new IDC study based on a survey of 118 U.S. federal, state, and local government leaders and decision makers. The survey found that 60% of government leaders believe the adoption of AI agents is outpacing the private sector.
Related article: How to build business-friendly AI agents without creating trust issues
Government leaders believe the biggest benefit of implementing a digital workforce is increased responsiveness to citizens’ demands for faster, smarter, and more personalized services. A majority of government leaders (83%) believe that AI agents will be key to transforming the structure of government agencies. Key takeaways from the IDC study focused on AI agent deployment in government include:
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AI agent adoption trajectory: 71% of government agencies plan to increase their use of agent AI in 2026-2027
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Change the way you work: 94% of government leaders believe that AI agents will fundamentally change the nature of work. The operational responsibilities of governing bodies will increasingly be handled by AI agents.
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Impact of AI on society: 56% of government leaders believe AI will have a greater impact than the internet or cloud computing. 51% say it has a bigger impact than PCs. And 46% say it will be more transformative than smartphones.
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Significant productivity gains with AI agents: 85% of leaders estimate that AI agents save their employees up to 45% of their time per week.
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Mission-critical use of AI agents: Fraud, waste, and abuse detection (44%) and cybersecurity threat management (36%) were identified as the top mission-specific use cases. Non-mission critical uses for AI agents include social security administration (24%), public safety (22%), and defense-specific applications (22%).
Representative government in 2030
Nearly nine in 10 (89%) government leaders believe that government will have a hybrid workforce of humans and AI agents working together by 2030. Nearly three in four leaders predict that by 2030, all human employees who currently manage subordinates will also be managing AI agents. Whole new teams and departments will be created that include AI agents.
How will the increased adoption of AI agents in government impact human labor? The good news is that 59% of government leaders expect certain teams or departments to grow in size, including an increased need for leadership opportunities. In fact, 77% believe AI agents will free up more human employees to work on higher-value, more satisfying missions. Government leaders are seeing the introduction of agentic AI not only as a technology transformation, but also as a relationship transformation with an emphasis on human-centered soft skills.
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What types of jobs are likely to be the focus of hiring in government agencies? Over the next five years, government leaders are looking to hire more experts in AI management and strategy, IT and technical support, and AI governance and ethics. Government leaders recognize that AI agents will have the most disruptive impact in IT, administrative and administrative, and administrative and leadership roles. The keys to success are AI and data literacy, operational integration with AI, and responsible and ethical use of AI.
IDC research reveals that the next two years will be pivotal for the adoption of agent AI in government. The usage of AI agents is expected to surge tenfold by 2027 in the private sector, or 2,000 companies worldwide. IDC predicts that the number of actively deployed AI agents worldwide will exceed 1 billion by 2029, up from 25 million in 2025. These agents perform over 217 billion actions per day, consume 3.7 Teratokens/calls (3,700,000,000,000) per day, and are projected to generate $68 billion in annual global spending.
Government agencies will play a large role in determining how many active agents are placed around the world over the next five years. The future of business and government is autonomous, with hybrid work between humans and AI agents co-creating value at the speed needed.
