According to an IFOP survey, 61% of French citizens believe that public services work poorly in France, including 18% “very poorly”. Faced with this observation, public administration must adapt to current efficiency standards. The national ambition is now to achieve natively digital governance in order to restore trust and performance. This strategic undertaking has become the essential foundation for guaranteeing high-quality support, accessible everywhere and instantly.
While the visible tip of the iceberg hints at the first progress of public transformation, the reality beneath the surface is quite different. Indeed, the scale of the task remains considerable, and this shift must intensify to meet the priority expectations of 55% of citizens who, above all, want services that are more easily reachable, whatever the channel used (Baromètre Harris, Institut Paul Delouvrier, 2025).
Not only does this urgency affect the experience of every citizen, but it also directly determines the daily efficiency of all the staff within these organizations.
The accessibility challenge
Today, the permanent connectivity of citizens compels public administrations to rethink the way they operate. The stakes are clear: facilitating access, simplifying procedures and relieving congestion in services to gain in efficiency.
That said, the public sector is not a sector like any other. While this evolution promises precious time savings for users, it nonetheless runs into a major limitation: the risk of exclusion.
The greatest challenge of this transition is succeeding in addressing everyone, all the time. Part of the population is not yet comfortable with digital tools or lacks the training to be autonomous in the face of these new technologies. For this transformation to be a success, it is therefore essential to support these people in order to make administration more accessible and inclusive.
Moreover, following a first phase of digitization, the State is now deepening its technological shift by integrating artificial intelligence into its processes.
At the heart of this small revolution: conversational agents. They offer many advantages across several main use cases within the public sector.
Facilitating internal processes
Despite a drive for efficiency, French administrations face growing saturation of their services. Public sector staff sometimes struggle to respond quickly to users because of time constraints or sometimes massive volumes of requests.
This is where artificial intelligence takes on its full meaning: it acts as a first-level point of contact capable of instantly handling the most frequent questions. If the request turns out to be complex, the tool then hands over to a specialized advisor, thereby guaranteeing uninterrupted support.
Indeed, work carried out by the 2023-2024 cohort of the National Institute of Territorial Studies (INET), made public in April 2024, concludes that 25% of the tasks of local authority staff could be performed, in full or in part, by generative AI.
Automating these repetitive tasks frees up precious time for staff. In addition, by relieving themselves of simple and repetitive questions, services can focus on priority cases. For the user, this translates into a smoother interaction, a better quality of attention and significantly shorter response times.
Moreover, when it is automated and connected to internal systems, the AI agent becomes a true conductor. Drawing on a knowledge base defined beforehand, it carries out complete procedures: registrations, case management and follow-up, personalized requests and so on.
This productivity gain therefore benefits both the peace of mind of public sector staff and the satisfaction of users.
No more waiting on the phone: how to optimize the connection with the right person?
Furthermore, one of the major assets of the AI agent lies in its complete availability: it remains operational 24/7. This permanence helps smooth out the flow of requests by offering an immediate answer, even outside conventional opening hours, thereby avoiding the saturation of services during peak times.
Beyond this scheduling flexibility, the tool integrates harmoniously into users’ digital habits. It complies with the French State digital design system (DSFR) and adapts equally well to an institutional website or a mobile application. Moreover, it often acts as a virtual one-stop shop. First, it centralizes the questions coming from different administrative departments. Then, the user no longer needs to look for the right contact, because artificial intelligence provides a coherent answer, thereby simplifying the complexity of the organization in the background.
Finally, by benefiting from an instant, reliable and consistent answer at any time, the user enjoys a simplified experience. This gain in responsiveness contributes directly to modernizing the relationship with users and enhancing the image of public administration.
A concrete example
The AI agent of the Chamber of Trades and Crafts (CMA) of the Île-de-France region
Thus, the priority mission of the conversational agent is to remove the obstacles to finding information. For many users, administrative journeys still appear complex, even intimidating. It is to simplify this experience that innovative initiatives have emerged.
Offered by the CMA of the Île-de-France region, our Genii solution specifically supports project leaders, business founders and young people looking for training. Given the diversity of profiles and challenges, the journeys can sometimes seem complex.
Whether it concerns taxation, company law, business plans or career choices, the agent is able to guide the user. If the situation turns out to be specific or if the request requires particular expertise, it redirects the visitor to an advisor.
A confirmed success
Indeed, since January 2026, thanks to the Genii solution, the outcome is extremely positive.
More than 5,500 exchanges have been recorded, with an average resolution rate of 90.73%. Notably, more than 45% of these requests took place outside the usual opening hours, proving that the tool meets a real need for flexibility.
Moreover, this success is crowned by strong user approval, with a satisfaction rate of 93% (data as of 31 March 2026).
Encouraging autonomy:
a lever against digital illiteracy
Today, users prefer to resolve their issues autonomously rather than calling on customer service.
Indeed, obtaining an immediate answer fully on one’s own is a standard of quality. The more a citizen can act alone, in real time and at any hour, the more they judge the public service to be efficient. Whether it is a matter of web searches or direct consultations on official portals, obtaining an immediate answer in real time is now the norm.
Accustomed to private sector tools (tutorials, dynamic FAQs, community spaces), they now project these same expectations of responsiveness onto public services.
Finally, the value of a conversational agent lies in its ability to handle natural language. By allowing the user to express themselves in their own words, this tool provides a simplified gateway for people affected by digital illiteracy. It supports them with care toward the resolution of their procedures and knows how to direct them, when needed, to a human agent.
A public service accessible to everyone, all the time
Far from being a mere passing trend, artificial intelligence through conversational agents has gradually established itself as a strategic lever for organizations.
Unfortunately, these organizations face saturation of their communication channels. While the customer relations, human resources and IT departments were the pioneers of this adoption, the public sphere must now fully embrace this tool.
In conclusion, the era of the distant and siloed public service belongs to the past. Conversational agents offer an unprecedented opportunity to rethink the relationship between administrations and citizens: more accessible, more responsive and more human.
At a time when trust is built as much on the quality of the service provided as on its availability, it would be damaging to leave the private sector as the sole master of this revolution.
Ultimately, the public sector must take its full place in this transformation, in the service of everyone.
Useful sources
Ifop. (2022). Le regard des Français sur le fonctionnement des services publics.
https://www.ifop.com/article/le-regard-des-francais-sur-le-fonctionnement-des-services-publics/
Harris Interactive. (2025, February). Baromètre de l’Institut Paul Delouvrier : Les services publics vus par les Français et les usagers (Édition décembre 2024). Direction de la transformation publique.
Institut National des Études Territoriales (INET). (2024). Cartographie des métiers concernés par l’IA : Impacts et opportunités pour les collectivités territoriales. CNFPT.
https://inet.cnfpt.fr/sites/default/files/2024-08/Cartographie_des_metiers_concernes_par_l_IA.pdf
