Believe It Or Not, The Government Is Adopting AI to Make Your Life Easier
Believe It Or Not, The Government Is Adopting AI to Make Your Life Easier
Publish Date: 2026-05-22 06:53:00
Source Domain: www.bigtechnology.com
This conversation is sponsored by Kyndryl
The Department of Motor Vehicles might not be where most people expect to find cutting-edge technology. But in a recent interview, Brian Shell, a senior partner at Kyndryl, recounted a surprising array of AI use cases in place at state DMVs right now.
Today, DMVs and state agencies are using AIs to cut wait times, reduce paperwork, and rethink what it means to serve the public. Just imagine the license photo process, which can be arduous, made smoother by AI that gets the background exactly right. That’s rolling out in some locations today.
Rapidly advancing AI capabilities, Shell argued, have sparked to “a resurgence in the spirit of public service” and a desire to deliver for taxpayers. We get into what’s happening in this Q&A below, edited lightly for length and clarity.
Alex Kantrowitz: The public perception of government is that it’s slow to adopt technology. Is that true when it comes to generative AI?
Brian Shell: Well, maybe appropriately so to some extent. Governments are durable institutions, and so they should be thoughtful about their adoption of new technology, and we’re definitely seeing that here.
Governments want to have policies and regulations in place before they start adopting things wholesale. That said, there are a lot of people in government who are adopting generative AI. We’re seeing AI piloted and then moving past pilots in lots of states and agencies. Are they adopting it as fast as tech startups? No. But I wouldn’t say that’s a problem.
We’re about three and a half years past ChatGPT’s introduction. Does the fact that government is now actively engaging with this technology signal that no area of society can really leave it alone?
The pervasiveness of AI is very much clear at this point. It’s going to be a part of every area of the world that interacts with technology. It’s today’s version of ‘every business is an IT business.’ It used to be that you could run your…
