Reimagining Businesses with AI

CHAPTER 10Transforming Government and Citizen Services with AI

“He shall despise none, but hear the opinion of all.”

—Chanakya

INTRODUCTION

Chanakya was a teacher in ancient India. He authored the famous Arthashastra more than 2,000 years ago and is considered as one of the foremost thinkers in governance, economics, military strategy, and diplomacy. Across all ages, objective data and information have been critical for effective governance, as the quote highlights.

This is our final chapter focused on industry sectors. Governance and citizen services are not a classic industry, but like other industries, government, too, is focused on maximizing the welfare and economic progress of its constituents – the people. AI is transforming how governments around the world function very similar to the transformation it is driving in every industry segment. Governance is a big deal, not only because it touches every aspect of our lives today and for the future, but also because collectively all the governments around the world spend over $25 trillion, making it one of the biggest economic activity drivers. AI has been used by governments in many ways for a long time. Defense research has been one of the biggest places of development and application of AI. But the use of AI can be found in more routine activities like automatic address recognition and mail sorting. The US Postal Service, which was one of the earliest and most extensive adopters of this method, is today sorting more ...