Define the outcome.
Identify the problem worth solving. Establish a baseline for performance, cost, and the experience of the people doing and using the work.
An illustrated panorama of the capital region, with Rosslyn, rows of Arlington National Cemetery headstones, Memorial Circle, the Pentagon, and Washington, DC across the Potomac. Arlington Memorial Bridge aligns with Memorial Circle and the avenue toward the cemetery. Theodore Roosevelt Bridge and distant Key Bridge cross farther upriver; a small illuminated dinner-cruise boat travels just downstream of Key Bridge. Pink cherry blossoms surround the Tidal Basin, separated from the river by parkland, while a low wooded horizon lies beyond the Capitol. Scrolling moves gradually toward DC, following the river into a closer view of the city and National Mall.
INTELLIGENCE / PUBLIC PURPOSE
Artificial intelligence. Public purpose.
Intelligence.
In service.
AI and modernization for a more capable public sector. Built to deliver. Designed to serve.
Scroll to move forward
THE CAPITAL REGION
01 Strategy & Policy
Make capability count.From AI potential
to public capability.
AI is changing what organizations can do. Strategy connects that potential to the mission. Policy establishes the authority, accountability, and conditions for putting it to work.
Explore the decisions behind adoption: where to invest, how to govern, and what a more capable public sector means for its workforce and the people it serves.
Prepare people for the change.
Consider how AI changes tasks, roles, skills, and leadership. Workforce & AI begins with the people who will use, oversee, and improve these systems.
Make accountability clear.
Define where AI can act, when human judgment is required, and how performance will be evaluated. Connect governance to the work people actually do.
02 Solutions & Services
Understand the capability. Find the fit.Know what’s possible.
Learn what works.
Make sense of AI models, platforms, and services. Explore what they can do, how to compare them, and how to use them in public-sector work.
01
Models & platforms
Understand the capability
behind the name.
Writing and analysis. Search and research. Document processing. Coding and workflow support. Start with the work you need to do, then examine what an AI offering actually supports.
A model, the product built around it, and a government offering are different things. The useful question is what capabilities are available in the environment your organization can use.
A useful starting point
Explore practical examples
Which part of the task needs assistance—and what would a good result look like?
02
Compare & choose
Compare the offering.
Consider the context.
A useful comparison starts with the same task, the same source material, and clear criteria for success. Look beyond an impressive demonstration to reliability in everyday work.
Consider capabilities, data handling, available integrations, accessibility, deployment options, and cost. Check which features are included in the specific government service you are evaluating.
The distinction that matters
Model capability. Product functionality. Government availability.
03
Learn & apply
Build a skill.
Improve a real task.
Begin with a bounded task and information your organization permits you to use. Give the model a clear objective, useful context, and a defined format for the response.
Ask it to identify gaps rather than fill them with assumptions. Verify the result against the source, refine the instructions, and keep a record of what improves the work.
Try this instruction
Connect capability to a public outcome
“Use only the supplied material. List what is missing. Separate evidence from recommendations.”
Solutions & Services / In practice
One outcome. A connected approach.Start with something
worth improving.
Choose an example to see how people, delivery, and AI can contribute to the same public outcome.
An illustrative starting point
Reduce the work around the work.
Move a permit or service request from intake to review with fewer manual steps and clearer ownership.
Find the friction.
Map duplicate entry, missing information, and delays. Understand what applicants and reviewers need to complete the task.
Change the whole process.
Align data standards, system interfaces, review rules, and staff training around a simpler end-to-end workflow.
Accelerate the routine work.
Test AI-assisted document extraction, completeness checks, and draft responses, with staff verifying the results.
These examples illustrate a PublicSector.ai synthesis; they are not an official extension of the source frameworks.
03 Research & Insights
Ideas with foundations.The thinking
behind the work.
Research and analysis to inform better decisions about AI and modernization. Begin with human-centered design and the institutional capacity to turn an idea into a working service.
Human-centered design2026
01Technical foundations
02Iterative development
03User-centricity
04Service design
Featured report · 47 pages
The Prerequisite
Human-Centered Design as Infrastructure for Government Service Delivery
A readiness ladder for building the institutional capacity to deliver services around people’s needs.
Mark Lerner & Reilly Martin
IBM Center for The Business of Government · September 2026
Modernization & migrationM3
0Assessment
1Readiness
2Selection
3Engagement
4Migration
5Operations
Quick start guide · 2 pages
From vision to operations.
M3 Agency Implementation Playbook
A practical view of the work across a transition: governance, workforce, processes, technology, and performance.
GSA · Office of Shared Solutions and Performance Improvement
Working draft · May 7, 2025
Supporting perspectives3 additional reports
Agile and Adaptive Leadership in the Public SectorInes Mergel · IBM Center for The Business of Government · 2026PDFApplying Design Thinking to Public Service DeliveryJeanne Liedtka & Randall Salzman · IBM Center for The Business of GovernmentPDFHuman-Centricity in Digital Delivery: Enhancing Agile GovernanceInes Mergel · IBM Center for The Business of Government · 2022PDF
04 News & Events
Follow the change. Look for the evidence.What’s changing.
What’s moving forward.
Significant developments in public-sector AI, events that help people learn and connect, and evidence of meaningful progress.
Service delivery starts
with institutional readiness.
In The Prerequisite, Mark Lerner and Reilly Martin examine the foundations for human-centered government services—from reliable technology to the capacity to design across an entire service.
Explore the report in Research & InsightsPeople
Practitioners. Researchers. Perspectives.The people shaping
public-sector AI.
Public-sector AI brings together research, technology, and the experience of people delivering services. Start with the authors whose work informs our research collection.
Authors in our research collection
Mark Lerner & Reilly MartinThe Prerequisite: Human-Centered Design as Infrastructure for Government Service DeliveryPDF Ines MergelAgile and Adaptive Leadership in the Public SectorPDF Jeanne Liedtka & Randall SalzmanApplying Design Thinking to Public Service DeliveryPDFADVANCED INTELLIGENCE. PUBLIC PURPOSE.
Build capability.
Deliver progress.
More capable systems. More effective public service.
Intelligence that earns its place through results.