Audit finds that there are 1,200+ government AI use cases in development and in use today.

Recently, I sat down with Adelaide O’Brien, research vice president at IDC Government Insights, to discuss the current and future state of generative AI in the public sector worldwide. The full conversation is available to view on demand, but I also wanted to highlight some of the takeaways from the discussion.

Today, federal agencies rely extensively on Cloud-based SaaS applications for everything from payment processing and document management, to data security and employee workflow automation. These tools help departments to function very efficiently, but because they are being used for essential government functions, it’s vital that they are safe and secure. For example, personnel at The Pentagon or The Department of Homeland Security can’t just choose any software vendor in the marketplace.

Government agencies and public sector organizations are a tantalizing hacker target. Cybercriminals go after public sector organizations because they hold confidential, often classified, information – the exact data state-sponsored and other criminal groups salivate over. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, or CISA, along with the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team, or CERT, have warned public sector IT of key threats.