BHUBANESWAR: Artificial Intelligence (AI) has emerged as a transformative tool for governance and policy-making, enabling governments to move towards more personalised and citizen-centric public services, said AI expert Prof Sanjog Misra at an idea forum held here on Friday.
Prof Misra is the faculty director of the Centre for Applied AI at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Addressing government officials, academics and researchers at the event organised by the Electronics and IT department in collaboration with the Data, Policy and Innovation Centre (DPIC) of the University of Chicago Trust, he said the real value of AI lies not merely in automation but in helping governments understand diverse citizen needs, predict challenges early and design targeted and inclusive interventions.
“AI is on an exponential trajectory and must be viewed as a strategic investment for individuals, institutions and governments alike,” said Prof Misra, who is an alumnus of the Ravenshaw University. He stressed that AI’s future is ‘not just GenAI’ or predictive AI, but could be centred on agentic AI systems capable of reasoning, initiating actions and autonomously completing complex tasks.
“Such technology has the potential to revolutionise the delivery of welfare services and significantly enhance the quality of services that the governments provide to citizens. For governments, these systems can anticipate needs such as identifying families eligible for benefits they have not yet claimed and proactively guide them through an automated application procedure,” he said.
Agentic AI can transform complex processes and make interactions with government services significantly smoother by reducing errors, accelerating workflows and tailoring assistance to individual circumstances, he added.
DPIC executive director Urmila Chatterjee said high-quality datasets and the thoughtful use of AI are key to driving effective governance in the coming decades. “With large and high-quality datasets and cutting-edge research, DPIC is set to support more targeted and impactful public policy,” she said.
Chief secretary Manoj Ahuja, development commissioner Anu Garg and principal secretary of Electronics and IT department Vishal Kumar Dev were present among others.