Asking the community: any examples, public or private sector, of automation agents that actually get things done for users online?
A few months ago, Luke Jordan and I wrote about the idea of a virtual despachante, drawing on the Brazilian term for a professional fixer who navigates bureaucracy on your behalf. The idea was to imagine an AI-powered equivalent: a kind of AI fixer that could complete government services for users rather than just guide them through.
Since then, I’ve been revisiting over a decade of user research across countries, sectors, and levels of government. One pattern keeps showing up: a great number of digital services often “work”, just not for real people.
They work for insiders. For those who already know how the system works. But most citizens? They get stuck or give up, which is often revealed by high drop-out rates (even after they manage to find the service online).
When we show government teams user testing videos where people fail to complete even “simple” digital services, the first reaction is almost always the same: “Ah, they’re doing it wrong.”
That moment says it all.
The standard response, when there is any beyond blaming the user, is to redesign the UX. But solving that problem at scale is painstakingly slow and, more often than not, an organizational challenge in itself. Yes, I know about design systems. Getting them implemented is easier said than done. So here’s the idea that keeps resurfacing:
What if governments offered an AI fixer: a public, autonomous agent that completes the service for the user?
It would log in, fill out forms, upload documents, and submit the application. The user would only be prompted when legally required, like for authentication or payment.
Yes, this is notoriously difficult in the typical use case for web agents, like travel booking, where agents must navigate dozens of unpredictable commercial sites full of CAPTCHAs and layout variation.
But digital government is different. The number of platforms is finite, workflows are clearly defined, and the user experience problem is everywhere.
That is why I think the potential return on investment is unusually high. This isn’t just one broken system. It is a structural pattern that travels across contexts (particularly middle and high income countries).
Any cases I should be looking at? Tools, services, or agents, especially public one, that are actually doing this (or something close to it) well?