- The “AI works for governments: A Digital Sprinters Report” (PwC & Google, Oct 17, 2025) asserts that AI is the most powerful public development lever for governments in emerging markets, helping them “leapfrog traditional development stages” as they are not constrained by legacy infrastructure.
- PwC’s quantitative model shows that if widely deployed in the public sector, AI could increase administrative productivity by 3%, boost real GDP by 4%, reduce budget deficits by 22%, lower the unemployment rate by 1.5 percentage points, and increase household income by 2% by 2035.
- AI creates public value through 3 pillars:
- Fiscal efficiency & transparency – reducing waste, fraud, and optimizing public spending.
- Improved public services – enhancing the quality of healthcare, education, infrastructure, and increasing social trust.
- Promoting growth & prosperity – encouraging the private sector to adopt technology and create new jobs.
- PwC proposes a 4-level AI readiness framework for governments:
- Explorers – just starting, need a national AI strategy and digital infrastructure foundation.
- Infra Ready – have good infrastructure but lack AI governance capabilities.
- Governance Ready – have strong policies but weak infrastructure, should prioritize lightweight, cloud-based AI models.
- Leaders – already have an AI strategy, strong infrastructure, and can scale across multiple ministries and multi-agent systems.
- Google’s “AI Sprinters” framework is considered a foundation for governments to rapidly deploy AI based on 4 factors: a cloud-first approach, large-scale training, modern data systems, and consistent, transparent policies.
- The report highlights numerous practical applications in the public sector:
- Public Finance – fraud detection, optimizing taxation and public procurement.
- Healthcare – AI-powered disease diagnosis and classification to expand access.
- Education – adaptive learning and AI-powered teacher support.
- Infrastructure & Environment – predictive maintenance, natural disaster warnings, traffic optimization.
- Security & Justice – automated evidence analysis, shortening case processing times.
- PwC proposes a 3-tiered AI talent training model for the public sector:
- AI Learners (all civil servants with basic understanding).
- AI Implementers (applying tools to ministerial processes).
- AI Innovators (building and evaluating AI systems).
- The implementation roadmap consists of 6 steps: building a skills framework, setting competency goals, assessing the current state, creating a talent plan, delivering tailored training, and continuous evaluation and updates.
📌 Summary: PwC forecasts that if widely deployed in the public sector, AI could increase administrative productivity by 3%, boost real GDP by 4%, reduce budget deficits by 22%, lower the unemployment rate by 1.5 percentage points, and increase household income by 2% by 2035. PwC proposes a 3-tiered AI talent training model for the public sector: AI Learners (all civil servants with basic understanding), AI Implementers (applying tools to ministerial processes), AI Innovators (building and evaluating AI systems), and a 6-step implementation roadmap.
