AI Agents aren’t as radical as they sound
When we talk about AI agents handling government services, it can feel totally far-fetched and radically new, like something from a distant future. But delegation of government services is already happening all around us.
People routinely delegate high-stakes government interactions to:
- Tax preparers for filing returns
- Immigration attorneys for visa applications
- Permit expediters for building approvals
- Benefits navigators for disability claims
- Customs brokers for import/export documentation
To think about the potential for AI agents, I created this visualization to better understand why people delegate these tasks. Mapping services by administrative burden and frequency reveals a clear pattern: the upper-left quadrant of this chart (high burden, low frequency) is where delegation makes most sense. For these kinds of services, citizens don’t build up expertise because these tasks are relatively rare – this is where specialists who can be delegated to thrive.
The color coding of the chart highlights something important: many of these prime delegation candidates are critical or high stakes transactions. If they are not completed properly, there are potentially significant consequences. These are exactly the kinds of tasks people already pay professionals to handle.
This existing delegation landscape can inform how we design for AI agents.
What makes someone comfortable handing sensitive financial data to a tax preparer or personal information to an immigration attorney? These delegation-based services have the following characteristics:
- Professional credentials and accountability
- Transparent process (you see the forms before submission)
- Ability to override decisions
- Clear recourse when mistakes happen
- Legal liability
These things aren’t just nice-to-haves. They are the foundation of trust in delegation relationships. As we design AI agent systems for government services, we need equivalent trust mechanisms. These mechanisms won’t look identical to the real world delegation-based relationships we have today (i.e., no personal relationship with the professional offering support, different accountability structures), but they must address the same fundamental human needs for transparency, control, and recourse.
The future of government AI agents isn’t about inventing something entirely new. It’s about understanding what already works in delegation relationships and translating those trust factors into AI systems.
#AI #AIGovernance #artificialIntelligence #ChatGPT #civictech #DigitalGovernment #GovTech #machineLearning #ServiceDesign #technology
