Public sector organisations prepare to embrace agentic AI

“With rising citizen demands and stretched resources, public sector organisations recognise the ways in which AI can help them do more with less. However, the ability to deploy Gen AI and agentic AI depends on having rock-solid data foundations,” said Marc Reinhardt, public sector global industry leader at Capgemini. “Looking ahead, governments can be more agile and effective as AI augments the work of government employees to source information, conduct policy analysis, make decisions, and answer citizen queries. However, to reach this future, governments need to focus on building the right data infrastructure and governance frameworks.”

Despite ambitions to embrace and scale AI use, public sector executives cite data security issues (79 per cent) and limited trust in AI-generated outputs (74 per cent) as primary barriers to widespread adoption. In the EU, organisations report a significant gap in confidence when it comes to complying with the EU AI Act, with less than four in ten (36 per cent) prepared to meet these requirements.

To progress their Gen AI adoption, public sector organisations require better data mastery, with the public sector showing limited progress in key areas of data management and utilisation since 2020. The report finds that only 12 per cent of organisations consider themselves very mature in activating data, while seven per cent report being very mature in nurturing data and AI-related skills. Only a fifth (21 per cent) of public sector organisations surveyed have the required data to train and fine-tune AI models, including Gen AI models.

Data-sharing is vital for AI adoption as it boosts the volume and diversity of data to enhance AI model performance and optimise decision-making. But data-sharing initiatives are further complicated by concerns about data, cloud, and AI sovereignty. Despite all public sector organisations surveyed either having or planning to have data sharing initiatives, they are not yet mature; most organisations (65 per cent) worldwide are still in the planning or pilot stages.

“With rising citizen demands and stretched resources, public sector organisations recognise the ways in which AI can help them do more with less. However, the ability to deploy Gen AI and agentic AI depends on having rock-solid data foundations”

the Capgemini Research Institute highlights how governments are increasingly recognising the critical role of harnessing data in the public sector, reflected in the growing prominence of chief data officers (CDO) and chief AI officers (CAIO). As many as 64 per cent of public sector organisations already have a CDO, while 24 per cent plan to appoint one. Furthermore, the increasing strategic value of AI has resulted in over a quarter (27 per cent) of public sector organisations appointing a chief AI officer, over a quarter (27 per cent) already having one and 41 per cent planning to introduce this new C-level role.

In December 2024 and January 2025, the Capgemini Research Institute conducted a survey of executives from 350 public sector organisations with two respondents from each organisation – one from the IT/data function and one from a line of business (LOB). These executives represented organisations across six public sector segments: public administration, tax and customs, welfare, defense, security, and healthcare. They operated at various levels of government, including national, state, local, and international, and were located in countries across North America, Europe, APAC, and the Middle East.

The Capgemini Research Institute is Capgemini’s in-house think-tank focused on digital technologies. To find out more and download the report, go to Capgemini Insights.