AI Agents for Government: New Study Shows Who's Ready

A Salesforce survey of 1,000 Americans indicates strong public readiness for AI agents in government services, while revealing some demographic differences in acceptance.

According to the results, 87 percent of people in the U.S. would use an AI agent to navigate confusing government processes. AI agents are software programs designed to automate tasks and interact with citizens, essentially serving as virtual assistants.

The desire for 24/7 help completing government forms stems from the feeling that Americans are wasting their time on some of these processes. Survey respondents especially expressed frustrations in the process of applying for financial aid (63 percent), renewing or enrolling in benefits (61 percent), applying for or renewing a license or a permit (53 percent) or paying government fees or fines (43 percent). They identified the tasks as the biggest waste of their time with confusing or redundant questions.
Salesforce has a reason to promote the use of AI agents, as they’ve created solutions for government agencies looking to reduce the amount of time it takes citizens to access services. The company has worked with the California Department of Motor Vehicles to reduce the time people needed to apply for a Real ID from 35 minutes down to seven with AI and digital transformation solutions.

Following the results of the survey, company leaders believe a clear example for the potential of agentic AI in government stands out.

“A great initial use case is renewing licenses, which can be a confusing and time-consuming process to navigate — especially for busy business owners,” said Nasi Jazayeri, executive vice president and general manager of public sector at Salesforce, in an email to Government Technology. “Now, in minutes, state and local government agencies can set up an AI agent powered by agency-specific data to make this process easier on the applicant and the reviewer.”

However, Salesforce’s survey also shows that the public does have concerns about using AI agents for government processes that they’d want addressed in order to be comfortable with the technology. The top concern reported was loss of human connection, followed by inaccurate information, data security risks, lack of accountability and lack of transparency.

Furthermore, Government Technology asked Salesforce to dive deeper into survey data to learn more about the people who didn’t have interest in using AI agents. The data revealed that Americans who more often responded “I would not use an AI agent to interact with the public sector” in the survey polling were baby boomers and women.

While nearly half (49 percent) of respondents who said they wouldn’t use agents for public-sector affairs were baby boomers, the age group made up only 27 percent of the total U.S. sample. Meanwhile, 64 percent of respondents who said they wouldn’t use agents for public-sector affairs were women, even though women only made up 52 percent of the total sample group.
Ultimately, the Salesforce survey reveals a public ready for AI to streamline government, but with clear caveats. The challenge now lies in navigating these concerns, ensuring that AI is deployed thoughtfully and ethically.