The White House’s recently announced “AI Action Plan” aims to ensure that the United States remains the global leader in artificial intelligence technology. Nonetheless, some of the most promising benefits might be accessible to Americans who are already residing in their homes, like the 68 million seniors enrolled in Medicare or the 74 million people receiving Social Security benefits.
The language of the 26-page action plan includes a commitment to “increase the use of AI to improve the delivery of services to the public.” What are the main first-use cases for the government where this can be done correctly? Medicare and Social Security. Artificial intelligence (AI) agents, or self-sufficient AI systems, have the potential to improve the work of human workers in each of those crucial public-service domains, which would be advantageous to the people they serve.
Together, AI agents and human workers could increase the effectiveness, speed, and usability of Social Security, Medicare, and other crucial constituent-focused federal services for government workers.
When someone texts a Social Security help centre to ask about their benefits, for instance, an AI agent might queue up their file so that the human employee has the necessary data available when they respond.
As an alternative, when a Medicare enrollee visits the website to enquire about whether a medical procedure will be covered and for what amount, an AI assessment agent may pre-evaluate the request and provide a recommendation. A human worker could then review the proposal, give their approval, or take additional action.
Government workers benefit from agentic AI, which frees up human staff to focus on their primary skills, such as customer service and decision-making.
Adaptive digital government employees who learn continuously
Compared to the government’s earlier chatbot experiments, AI agents will be far more capable. This is because, like any skilled human worker, AI agents can reason, learn, act, and get better with time.
Since AI agents are designed and configured to respect and protect the security and privacy of the sensitive personal data found in a citizen’s Medicare and Social Security files and enquiries, it is imperative to find a platform that complies with both HIPAA and FedRAMP High requirements. Trust is essential.
Another advantage of agentic AI is that agents can function autonomously, 24/7. Every day, hundreds of thousands of senior citizens in the United States send enquiries and requests to Social Security and Medicare offices nationwide, and each one should be answered promptly and accurately. Callers to the Social Security Administration typically have to wait more than an hour.
By the time the staff at Social Security or Medicare start their work each morning, the diligent, all-nighter AI agent can have a caseload that has been carefully reviewed and assessed and is ready for human intervention thanks to agentic AI.
In the near future, agentic AI is probably going to include conversational voice capabilities. Medicare and Social Security enrollees who would rather speak with a human or other agent than type on a keyboard will receive even better service from this next generation of AI.
Essential support for high-priority missions
Not every federal employee gets the credit they merit. Nonetheless, I have learnt from my experience working with federal agencies that public servants are dedicated to their work and genuinely want to help their constituents. These civil servants should be assisted in their work by the best technology available.
No more than Excel spreadsheets or computer calculators did in the past, agentic AI will not take the place of human labour. AI agents can and will assist Social Security and Medicare teams in managing a backlog of cases and freeing them from the more routine tasks so they can focus on the human element that their jobs require.
After all, the tens of millions of senior citizens in America and these public officials deserve that.
