In a recent Salesforce survey, a striking 60% of public sector IT professionals identified a shortage of artificial intelligence (AI) skills as their top challenge to implementing AI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why it matters: <\/strong>AI could save hundreds of millions of government staff hours and billions of dollars annually, according to Deloitte<\/a>. The benefits of AI are only possible if the public sector workforce has the skills to harness the technology. Government agencies are already being directed<\/a> to implement guidelines and build teams to support the use of AI. This includes expanding and upskilling their AI talent and designating a new Chief AI Officer, which every federal agency was recently ordered to hire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Salesforce perspective: <\/strong>\u201cTraining and skills development are critical first steps for the public sector to leverage the benefits of AI. By investing in new skills like prompt development, public sector leaders can empower their workforce to use AI to increase productivity, build deeper relationships with constituents, and improve the quality of public services.\u201d \u2013 Casey Coleman, SVP, Global Government Solutions<\/p>\n\n\n\n By investing in new skills like prompt development, public sector leaders can empower their workforce to use AI to increase productivity, build deeper relationships with constituents, and improve the quality of public services.<\/p>\nCasey Coleman, SVP, Global Government Solutions<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n IT professionals in the public sector are about a third more likely to say there’s an AI skills gap in their organization, compared to the industry* average.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Salesforce research found:<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Public sector faces a deeper AI skills gap than other industries<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n