The year AI moves from pilot to production: 3 predictions for governments in 2026
Federal agencies will enter 2026 knowing what works and ready to act, putting AI in the most significant position ever to impact government priorities.
bob stevens
Federal teams have spent the last year testing AI applications, measuring return on investment, and separating hype from reality. They gained the experience and resources needed to identify where AI is delivering and falling short, and to drive real change.
Over the next year, we will see a shift from application piloting to implementing AI solutions that fundamentally reshape the way governments serve their citizens. Federal agencies will enter 2026 knowing what works and ready to act, putting AI in the most significant position ever to impact government priorities.
This transition is defined by three transformations: breaking down decades of modernization barriers, moving from reactive to proactive cybersecurity, and democratizing software development beyond traditional IT departments. Each builds on the other, creating compounding benefits across government operations.
Federal modernization at scale with AI
Modernization is a priority that has been on the government's agenda for many years. With AI, government agencies can finally achieve that at scale.
Governments spend hundreds of millions of dollars annually maintaining and operating outdated IT systems and code. Still, the processes required for decommissioning, such as code refactoring, are time consuming and traditionally not scalable. This is where AI can help achieve long-standing modernization goals.
AI-powered refactoring tools transform between generations of programming, automatically converting decades-old COBOL and Fortran systems into modern, maintainable code while preserving critical business logic. These tools identify security vulnerabilities, ensure compliance, and generate documentation throughout the modernization process.
Traditional system updates turn from multi-year projects to multi-month sprints. Agencies that adopt AI-driven modernization complete system updates 10x faster than traditional approaches, freeing up resources for innovation instead of maintenance.
Transitioning from reactive to proactive security
While you can't predict the next major cybersecurity incident, there are tools you can use to change your approach to security. Over the next year, AI-powered defense systems will be one of the most effective ways to stay ahead of breaches.
Continuous threat monitoring and automated remediation using AI allows you to predict and prevent attacks before they occur, rather than reacting after the damage has occurred.
Sophisticated attackers now have access to AI tools that can exploit vulnerabilities faster than human security teams can patch them. Without AI-powered proactive measures, government agencies will struggle to keep pace with well-resourced malicious actors.
Government agencies that successfully implement proactive AI security models achieve significantly lower breach rates and faster threat response times, establishing new benchmarks for government cybersecurity excellence.
everyone can be a developer
AI is democratizing software development across government, finally fulfilling a decade-old prediction that “everyone can be a developer.”
This transformation extends software creation across all government roles. Mission specialists, policy experts, and administrators can now build applications and automate workflows without traditional programming skills. This dramatically increases government development capabilities by allowing subject matter experts to translate their domain knowledge into functional software solutions.
Human ingenuity drives creative problem solving, and AI handles the technical implementation. This change is accelerating rapidly; 89% of executives We expect agent AI to become the industry standard for software development within three years.
AI-powered development platforms automatically maintain security and compliance standards, allowing agencies to build development capabilities across all departments, not just IT.
The compounding impact of AI transformation
Government agencies that prioritize human-AI collaboration across modernization, cybersecurity, and development build high-performing teams that combine exceptional technology and mission expertise. This combination creates capabilities that neither humans nor AI can achieve alone.
To be successful, you must view these three transformations as interconnected investments that move forward together. Each feature enhances and accelerates the others to deliver secure software faster while maintaining the highest standards of governance.
The agency that acts first in all three areas will set the standards for the rest of government. More importantly, it proves that transformation timelines can be measured in months rather than years.
Bob Stevens is GitLab's Vice President of the Americas and Public Sector.
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