Even in 2026, government mostly uses AI in the back office.
Time to change that.

When we talk about AI in government, a lot of people immediately think of automated decisions, digital assistants, or the fully automated AI state. (Argentina, for example, wants to allow companies with 0% human employees in future.) But what does the broader reality actually look like? Far less spectacular!

According to the OECD, in 2026 AI in governments is mainly used exactly where citizens barely see it: in the back office.

86 percent of OECD states already use AI in internal processes.
75 percent use it in public services.
But only 36 percent use it to support legislation.
And only 33 percent for oversight or accountability mechanisms.

Right now, government AI mainly helps with sorting, structuring, preparing, analysing and automating internal processes. Less paper, less routine, more process support. That doesn’t sound like science fiction. But it might be exactly what we need right now.

Source:
OECD, Digital Government Outlook 2026, chapter “Adopting and governing AI in government”

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