To achieve faster, more consistent, and explainable decisions at scale, CIOs must migrate to decision-centric operating models while preserving public trust.
At least 80% of governments will implement agents of AI to automate routine decision-making, improving efficiency and service delivery by 2028, according to Gartner, Inc.., a business insights and technology company.
“Government CIOs are under increasing pressure to incorporate the AI "to the ability to make decisions quickly and responsibly," he says. Daniel Nieto, Senior Analyst Director at Gartner. “The rise of multimodal AI, along with conversational and agentic systems, has expanded what public organizations can automate, understand, and anticipate.”
However, one of the most persistent obstacles to achieving value with AI in governments It's fragmentation. According to a Gartner survey conducted between July and September 2025 with 138 participants from government organizations worldwide, 41% of respondents cited isolated strategies and 31% mentioned legacy systems as the main challenges to the adoption and implementation of digital solutions.
“"Technological modernization, by itself, has not solved these issues," Nieto stated.
Governance must shift from models to decision-making.
As AI transitions from experimentation to deep integration into decision-making, governance approaches must also evolve. Traditionally, the AI governance has focused on the management of models, data, and algorithms.
However, decision intelligence shifts this focus to the governance of the decisions themselves, for example, how they are designed, executed, monitored, and audited. This shift in governance is especially critical in government, where public legitimacy depends on transparency and impartiality.
Gartner's research found that 391,300 respondents cited improved services and citizen satisfaction as the main reasons for investing in building the citizens' trust. Decision intelligence provides a structural basis for operationalizing this trust by making decision paths explicit and auditable.
“By governing decisions, rather than just isolated AI components, governments can better balance automation with human judgment, especially in high-risk contexts or those that impact rights,” says Nieto. “Regulated industries and governments cannot rely on opaque 'black box' systems for important decisions. Decision intelligence elevates explainability from a technical requirement to a governance imperative.‘
Due to the need for transparency in decision-making, Gartner predicts that by 2029, 70% of government agencies will require explainable AI (XAI) and human-in-the-loop (HITL) mechanisms for all automated decisions impacting citizen service delivery. XAI and HITL projects are fundamental to decision intelligence in the public sector. These mechanisms ensure that decision logic can be inspected, explained, and questioned. Thanks to XAI and HITL, humans also retain authority over exceptions, appeals, and high-risk cases, and accountability is preserved even with increased automation.
Citizen experience becomes a qualitative measure of the value of AI.
While efficiency remains important, citizen trust in the government's ability to deliver effective services is becoming a key driver of digital transformation. Fifty percent of government respondents cited improving the citizen experience as one of their top three priorities.
“As AI and decision intelligence increasingly automate and simplify service delivery, the traditional notion of ‘citizen experience’ evolves,” says Nieto. “When citizens receive what they need from the government automatically, direct interactions may decrease, making trust in the reliability, impartiality, and transparency of the system even more crucial. Because trust is so essential in these situations, the predictive ability to anticipate potential needs can reshape how government digital services are delivered.”
Decision intelligence allows governments to redesign decision flows in citizen-facing services, moving from reactive, process-driven interactions to proactive, personalized engagement. This not only improves consistency and reduces delays, but also increases the perception of impartiality and builds public trust, even if direct contact with government staff becomes less frequent.
Gartner analysts will comment further on this and other data-related topics at [event name]. Gartner Data & Analytics Conference, which will take place on April 28th and 29th in São Paulo (SP).
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