The State of Conversational Agents in Government
Scaling constituent access with voice and chat agents.
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Phone calls have always been the front door to government services, and over decades that front door became a wall. In FY 2025, 25 million calls to U.S. Social Security ended without service.
Conversational agents make 24/7 citizen access operationally viable for the first time. This report traces the shift from IVR and deflection-based chatbots to agentic voice that resolves rather than routes, and maps the four use cases agencies deploy first: instant answers, guided service journeys, crisis response and trusted messengers.
Deployed results include ~5,000 calls a day on Czech national benefits hotlines with 85% independently resolved, alongside the Government of Ukraine and the City of Midland, Texas. A closing section covers public-sector-grade security, the regulatory landscape and a deployment playbook.
For federal, state and local government buyers responsible for citizen service delivery.
