How automation and Specialized AI will modernize government agencies

As the President’s Management Agenda states, “Every interaction between the government and the public is an opportunity to deliver the services people expect and deserve.” To that end, the public expects the same kind of service from the government as it does from the private sector: quick, personalized, and convenient. 

As a result, government directives, such as "The White House Executive Order on Transforming Federal Customer Experience and Service Delivery to Rebuild Trust in Government," require federal agencies to streamline their processes, improve their legacy systems, and digitize government services.

UiPath commissioned IDC to advance the conversation around possibilities with AI and automation in a new IDC White Paper that addresses challenges government agencies face and how they can modernize with new technologies. 

According to the IDC White Paper, “Agencies are making substantial efforts to standardize IT and app platforms to directly address misalignment with older systems that are still mission critical. Agencies also need to gain insights from data that is on premises, in multiple clouds, and at the edge. This exponential proliferation of digital transformation, the increasing distribution of data and workflows, hybrid work models, hybrid multi-cloud, and edge computing have thrust agencies into a new trajectory requiring automation, digitalization, and interconnectedness. Ultimately, this is the precursor for applying AI with confidence.”

Similarly, defense agencies are deploying emerging technology for secure access, analysis, and storage of classified information. These agencies also integrate their operations with data from intelligent edge devices for real-time and predictive analysis.  

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in combination with automation has the potential to make government agencies and their employees more productive. Moreover, government agencies can leverage Specialized AI, which is securely trained with a customer’s data and optimized for its specific needs. UiPath Specialized AI solutions include over 70 models that enable customers to understand screens, mine tasks, process documents, and utilize unique and proprietary data sets within enterprise workflows. Specialized AI can result in fast, accurate, and tailored solutions that are cost-effective to operate and that deliver high value outcomes.

With AI-powered automation, civilian and defense agencies can provide more efficient public services and timely critical information to armed forces and coalition forces. To that end, enterprise automation platforms are a catalyst for responsibly deploying AI and enabling its capabilities. 

AI can be used to identify opportunities for workflow, process, and application automation and to prioritize tasks within government. Additionally, AI allows workers to automate cognitive processes, such as analyzing documents or capturing data from conversations. AI-powered automation also applies to machine learning models for extensive data flows.

The IDC White Paper states, “Unlike other solutions available to federal agencies, UiPath will never ask agencies to replicate or move their data to UiPath. The UiPath Business Automation Platform for mission impact interfaces with agency data and performs intelligent automation wherever agency data resides, even within legacy systems. This enables agencies to get value out of existing processes and systems without deploying a new architecture.”

To prevent unintended decision-making or cybersecurity risks, agencies must be cautious of which datasets and prompts they provide to large language models (LLMs) with Generative AI. Traditional AI systems analyze data and make predictions. Generative AI creates original data, in response to short prompts, using previously created content, such as text, audio, video, images, and code.

While traditional AI excels at pattern recognition, Generative AI excels at creating patterns. While Generative AI can be useful for processing data toward defined outcomes, it also means that government agencies must establish data governance policies, data classifications, data literacy programs, and training. A broad agency rollout and wide-scale use of Generative AI without guiderails and governance in place is not advisable. 

An AI-powered automation platform can be securely deployed across all government functions. Departments currently utilizing automation to advance their digital operations in government agencies include finance and accounting, procurement, human resources, supply chains, contact centers, and IT services. These automations contribute to securing missions and enabling front-line employees to make timely data-driven decisions to determine benefit eligibility.

By using such a platform, government agencies are able to integrate AI into their legacy technology, improve decision-making processes, and streamline operations. Without automating processes, applying AI alone to systems and operations won’t be enough. Government agencies must prioritize AI-powered automation in their strategic technology plans—this will be critical to developing digital strategies and reducing operating costs.

Download the IDC White Paper, The New Government Modernization Imperative: Automation and the Power of Applying AI, here to learn more about how AI-powered automation can help your agency achieve mission goals and deliver improved citizen services.