Over the past three decades, governments have successfully navigated wave after wave of technological change from email and the internet to mobile devices, cloud computing, and digital services. Each transformation changed how governments operated, how public servants worked, and how citizens accessed services.

None of these transitions happened overnight. Each required governments to modernize policies, build new skills, strengthen governance, and adapt the way work was organized. Technology consistently moved faster than institutions, but governments evolved, finding ways to embrace innovation while maintaining public trust.

Today, our governments face the next great transformation: artificial intelligence.

AI offers enormous potential to improve productivity, reduce administrative burden, and help governments deliver better services with finite resources. But it also raises important questions about privacy, security, accountability, and public confidence.

The challenge is not whether governments should adopt AI. It is how they can do so responsibly while ensuring the public service evolves alongside the technology.

The recent Ontario Auditor General's report on artificial intelligence illustrates why this matters.

The report found that public servants are using unsanctioned AI tools, highlighting gaps in governance, training, procurement oversight, and privacy protections. These are important findings, but they should not be viewed as evidence that governments are failing. Rather, they reflect a familiar reality: people often discover the value of new technology before institutions have fully adapted to support it.

Public servants are working in an increasingly complex environment, managing growing service demands, fiscal pressures, and rising citizen expectations. It is not surprising that many are exploring tools that help them work more efficiently and focus on higher-value activities.

The lesson from previous waves of digital transformation is clear. The answer is not to slow innovation but to accelerate the policies, governance, and workforce capabilities that allow innovation to happen responsibly.

Across governments, AI is already helping employees summarize information, support analysis, reduce repetitive work, and spend more time applying judgment and expertise. Realizing these benefits, however, requires more than deploying new technology.

Organizations creating the greatest value from AI are redesigning workflows, investing in skills, and equipping employees with secure tools and clear guidance. When those supports are absent, people will naturally seek their own solutions. That is increasingly a leadership challenge, not simply a technology challenge.

The federal government's decision to appoint an Artificial Intelligence Minister signals an important shift. Canada's future productivity will depend not only on developing AI, but on helping public institutions and private sector organizations and the people within them use it effectively.

The opportunity is not to replace public servants, but to empower them. AI can augment the expertise, judgment, and institutional knowledge that already exist across Canada's public service, allowing employees to spend less time on routine tasks and more time solving complex problems for Canadians.

Trust, however, remains fundamental.

Canadians expect governments to use AI transparently, protect personal information, maintain human accountability, and ensure decisions remain fair and secure. Building that trust requires strong governance, robust cybersecurity, clear oversight, and continued investment in people and skills.

The Ontario Auditor General's report reinforces the importance of building these foundations now. It is not an argument against AI adoption but a reminder that institutional modernization must keep pace with technological change.

Canada has successfully managed transformative technological change before. Artificial intelligence is simply the next chapter. The question is not whether AI will shape the future of government, but whether governments will lead that transformation with the same commitment to innovation, trust, and public service that has guided previous generations of change. 

Mark Lambert is Senior Managing Director – Canada Heath and Public Service Lead, Accenture 

The views expressed are those of the author(s). National Newswatch Inc. publishes a range of perspectives and does not necessarily endorse the opinions presented.