Smart Country Convention: Majority Wants AI at Government Offices

<p>Artificial intelligence is on its way to becoming commonplace in German government offices. A current representative Bitkom survey shows: Skepticism towards AI in administration is rapidly diminishing – and approval is growing year after year. The figures were presented at the start of the Smart Country Convention (SCCON) in Berlin, Germany's leading event for the digitalization of the public sector.</p>

<h2>70 percent want AI support for applications</h2> <p>According to a survey of 1,004 people aged 18 and over conducted on behalf of Bitkom, 70 percent of respondents now want artificial intelligence to be used in processing their applications. In the previous year, this figure was still 63 percent – a significant jump within just twelve months, highlighting growing confidence in AI-supported administrative processes.</p> <p>Particularly noteworthy is the development regarding the question of how far AI's decision-making authority should go. A full 12 percent of respondents would leave examination and decision completely to an AI – almost twice as many as in the previous year, when this figure was 7 percent. Another nearly quarter, namely 23 percent, prefer a hybrid model: The AI examines the application, but the final decision remains with a human. This share has also increased compared to the previous year's value of 17 percent.</p>

<h3>Human control remains in demand, rejection decreases</h3> <p>That the human factor nevertheless does not disappear is shown by another figure: 35 percent of respondents want a human to examine and decide, while an AI additionally monitors the decision. In the previous year, it was 39 percent – an indication that preferences are shifting towards stronger AI integration. Only 26 percent of respondents completely reject the use of AI in their applications. A year ago, it was 31 percent – nearly a third.</p> <p>The figures thus paint a clear picture: The population in Germany is ready to increasingly place administrative processes – or at least place them under the observation of – algorithms. At the same time, the desire for human control as a safety net persists, even if its importance is tending to decrease.</p>

<h2>Bitkom: AI as key technology for administration</h2> <p>"AI is the key digital technology of our time, and administrations can benefit massively from it," comments Dr. Bernhard Rohleder, chief executive of the Bitkom digital association, on the results. "AI can examine applications, evaluate documents and handle not only routine cases. People want the administration to use this technology." How the state can become faster and more citizen-friendly with AI is therefore one of the major topics of the Smart Country Convention.</p> <p>The study results were presented by Bitkom and Messe Berlin jointly with representatives of this year's partner country Portugal – a signal of the international dimension of the digitalization debate in the public sector.</p>

<h2>Smart Country Convention: Stage for digital administration</h2> <p>The Smart Country Convention takes place from October 13 to 15, 2026 at the Berlin Messe Gelände and is considered Germany's leading event for the digitalization of cities, regions and public administration. More than 23,000 experts from administration, politics, business and science as well as over 850 speakers on a total of seven stages are expected.</p> <p>Prominent speakers include, among others, Dr. Karsten Wildberger, Federal Minister for Digitalization and State Modernization, Portuguese Minister for State Reform and Public Administration Gonçalo Matias, Federal Minister for Food and Agriculture Alois Rainer, and Ina Scharrenbach, Minister for Homeland, Municipal Affairs, Construction and Digitalization of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia. The high-caliber lineup underscores the importance that the topic of AI in administration has meanwhile gained at the political level.</p>

<h2>Conclusion: The path to AI administration is clear</h2> <p>The Bitkom survey for the Smart Country Convention makes clear that social support for AI in government agencies continues to grow – both in terms of fundamental acceptance and willingness to transfer more decision-making responsibility to the technology. This gives administrations and software providers a clear mandate: The technological and legal infrastructure for AI-supported application processing must keep pace with citizens' rising expectations. The Smart Country Convention in Berlin is therefore likely to be a central catalyst this year for how the digital state of the coming years can look in practice.</p>