Granicus has published UK research showing that 57% of public sector workers are embedding or testing AI-driven services, while 69% of citizens are unaware of any public services using AI.
The findings point to a gap between adoption inside public bodies and public understanding of how the technology is being used.
The research was based on responses from 500 public sector employees and 1,000 UK citizens across local government, central government, housing and the NHS. It comes as digital reform remains central to public services, with departments under pressure to improve access while managing budgets, skills shortages and ageing systems.
Trust appears to be a central issue. Nearly half of citizens surveyed, 49%, said they do not trust or feel comfortable with AI in public services, while 55% said they trust digital public services based on their use over the past year.
This leaves public bodies in a difficult position. Workers inside government are moving ahead with AI trials and deployments, but a large share of the public either does not know the technology is in use or feels uneasy about it.
Priorities also differ between the public and those inside the sector. While 30% of public sector workers said AI should be among the key technologies needed to close the digital services gap by 2028, only 17% of citizens said it should be a focus over the next two to three years to improve services.
Cybersecurity ranked higher among workers, with 34% identifying it as a key need, followed by big data analytics at 22%. The figures suggest officials see the next phase of digital service delivery as depending on a broader set of systems and protections rather than AI alone.
Training emerged as another constraint. Some 62% of public sector workers said the digital tools they already have could be used more effectively, and 42% identified lack of training as the biggest barrier. Asked which skills they personally needed more support with, 39% named AI literacy.
The survey also pointed to pressure on leadership and organisational alignment. A majority of workers, 54%, said leadership, communication and alignment continue to hold back digital initiatives, with little change over the past year.
At the same time, staff satisfaction with current digital services has improved. The proportion of public sector workers who said they were happy with current services rose to 56% from 46% previously. Yet confidence in readiness for the future moved in the opposite direction, falling to 47% from 61% a year earlier.
Among citizens, concerns about the long-term direction of digital public services were also evident, with 42% saying they are not confident about future readiness.
Accessibility gap
The research found another divide on accessibility. While 58% of public sector workers said their organisation's digital services are fully accessible to people with low digital skills or disabilities, 29% of citizens said they had personally experienced difficulty accessing digital public services over the past year.
Citizens also placed accessibility above AI in their list of priorities for improvement. Some 24% said accessibility should be prioritised over the next two to three years, compared with 17% for AI and 8% for interoperability. Staff training was the top choice for 27% of citizens.
These findings suggest the public is more focused on whether services are easy to use and available to everyone than on the technologies being introduced inside departments and agencies.
Ian Roberts, UK Managing Director at Granicus, said: "The level of engagement and utilisation of AI and automation across government services shows clear progress, but our research also highlights the work needed to bring citizens on that journey. This extends to the role of training and addressing AI literacy, which our research highlights. This will be key over the next 12 months, not only in bringing about greater efficiencies for local authorities but also in improving digital services, enhancing accessibility and allowing the public to self-serve and access the support they need."
The figures add to the broader debate over how public services should explain the use of AI to citizens, especially where automation affects access, communication or decision-making. They also indicate that departments may need to focus as much on communication, staff skills and service design as on new tools if they want public confidence to keep pace with deployment.
For now, the clearest finding is the contrast between internal momentum and external awareness: a majority of public sector workers say AI is already being used or tested in their organisations, while more than two-thirds of the public say they have not noticed it.