Agentic AI and the Next Wave of Public Service Reinvention in Canada
Canada's public sector is at an inflection point. Citizen expectations are rising, budgets are tight, and technology cycles are accelerating. Productivity gains from AI-especially Agentic AI, autonomous decision-making systems-are set to redefine how government works.
These themes will be front and center at the AWS Public Sector Symposium Ottawa 2025, where global experts will share what's working in digital transformation across government. The goal is clear: move beyond digitizing paper and redesign the work itself.
From Incremental Change to Reinvention
Research indicates that 46% of work time in Canada's public sector could be significantly impacted by generative AI. This isn't about marginal improvements. It's a chance to rebuild how services are structured and delivered.
High-volume areas-case management, registration, and contact centers-are ready for impact. Early collaborations show promise: training time cut by more than 50%, escalations down 40%, and regulatory authoring time reduced by 40-45%. Through Connected Customer Experience, predictive insights and AI-assisted interactions are improving citizen experience, workforce effectiveness, and trust-pointing to a clear path for GenAI-assisted government.
The upside goes beyond cost. When routine work is streamlined, public servants can focus on empathy, judgment, and critical thinking-the qualities that matter most in citizen-facing services.
Reshaping the Workforce
AI shifts tasks more than jobs. Skills like document review, data entry, and basic analysis will matter less. Skills like bias awareness, data literacy, and decision making will matter more.
- Opportunity: Two-thirds of Canadian workers want AI skills.
- Gap: Only 5% of organizations are reskilling their people.
Government needs talent strategies alongside AI investment-so adoption sticks and value compounds. Stand up role-based pathways, certify skills, and link learning directly to redesigned workflows and services.
To move faster on reskilling, consider structured, job-focused learning paths. For curated AI upskilling by role, see Complete AI Training: Courses by Job.
Building Trust Through Responsible AI
Adoption works when employees are involved. Engage openly on job impacts, show how roles evolve, and prove the career upside. A teach-to-learn culture-where teams document task shifts with AI and share playbooks-builds alignment and momentum.
- Co-design task maps: what to automate, augment, or retire
- Publish an AI use register and plain-language risk summaries
- Set bias checks, human-in-the-loop points, and audit trails
- Measure outcomes: service quality, speed, and citizen satisfaction
Cloud as the Foundation
Agentic AI needs modern, scalable infrastructure. Moving from legacy data centers to secure cloud platforms enables compute capacity, resilience, and agility across programs.
For reference, see the Government of Canada's cloud approach: Cloud Adoption Strategy.
A 90-Day Playbook for Public Sector Leaders
- Pick two priority journeys: e.g., contact center triage and benefits intake.
- Map work at task level: classify tasks as automate, co-pilot, or human-only.
- Set guardrails: data access, model choice, red-teaming, and human oversight.
- Launch a proof of value: target a 6-8 week sprint with clear success metrics.
- Upskill the team: role-based pathways for caseworkers, analysts, and managers.
- Modernize the path-to-production: CI/CD, model governance, and observability.
- Update procurement: outcome-based contracts, secure data terms, exit options.
- Report transparently: publish results and lessons to build trust and adoption.
The Opportunity Ahead
Generative and Agentic AI together could add up to $187 billion to Canada's economy by 2030. For government, the real win is citizen impact: faster benefit payments, shorter wait times, and services that respond in real time.
Technology is the easy part. The work that matters is leadership: set a bold vision, invest in skills, keep a clear standard for responsible AI, and iterate. With decisive action, Canada's public sector can be more agile, more productive, and more connected to the needs of people across the country.
If you're exploring what's next, the AWS Public Sector Symposium Ottawa 2025 will spotlight practical case studies and implementation tactics. For broader public sector initiatives, see AWS Public Sector Events.
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