I visited my local health-insurance office a few months ago. After entering the building, I was welcomed into a long and dark corridor, full of nervous people carrying bloated folders. The atmosphere was gloomy, and it was obvious that no one wanted to be there. After about 30 minutes I realized why: During that time, the line had barely moved, and it took me the better part of the day to reach a clerk. As a result, I was late for two other errands I had planned.

That’s government bureaucracy for you.

But it got me thinking: If we were able to put a craft on Mars, we surely could harness the internet, computers and all things digital to greatly improve the efficiency of routine government work.

Government spending in the U.S. is eating up almost 40% of gross domestic product (GDP).

usgovernmentspending.com

Those costs go hand in hand with various levels of the government having to provide adequate health care, welfare benefits and education.

Huge torrents of data need to be processed on a daily basis, which requires a flexible, powerful and automated system. Currently, many government systems fall short, since they employ more personnel than needed and use outdated technology.

Department of Labor

Furthermore, much of the data they use is still analog instead of digital — physical, in other words. Using paper when none is necessary is not just inefficient, it’s also slow, expensive and irresponsible. Using too many clerks to handle and process all that data results in the accumulation of human errors, which adds additional aggravation and expenses for both the government and citizens.

What, then, could be the solution?

A chain is as strong as its weakest link — the same goes for the government’s speed and efficiency. The culprits are the sheer volume of paperwork and the humans managing it.

To speed things up, every government office and department needs to be on the same information highway. Instead of having thousands of local, state and federal databases, some interconnected and some not, why not have one unified system, where all the data are accumulated online and can be accessed by citizens and government officials?

That would eliminate the need to visit any government office in person.

To access the data, one would require a computer, tablet or smartphone connected to the internet. After entering a unique key (perhaps a social security number or something else), the user would be greeted by a digital clerk — artificial intelligence (AI) in action. Of course, this clerk would need to be able to respond to simple queries and understand written and spoken English.

This would mean that, instead of going through a complex set of multilevel menus and having to memorize the names of various forms, one would simply talk to the AI, as they would to a helpful (and polite) clerk. For example, I could ask the AI: “Send my degree certificate to my future employer.” Since John Smith would be titled “my future employer” in my contact list, AI would then display the document, ask me to confirm, and it would be forwarded to Mr. Smith’s email.

Getting a driver’s license would take less than one minute. An instructor, after I pass my test, would speak into his smartphone: “Jurica Dujmović (followed by my unique key) has passed the test and now has a Class D driver’s license.”

Certain officials and individuals would have special privileges. They could manually inspect any piece of data and make changes.

For this to work, all existing data would need to be digitized, so it could be accessed by the AI system. Furthermore, the system would need to understand the data and manipulate it according to the preferences of its users.

If you think this is farfetched, think again. DARPA’s project CALO — Cognitive Assistant that Learns and Organizes — could be one such AI once it’s polished and perfected. Developed from 2003 to 2008 by over 300 researchers, CALO was capable of organizing and prioritizing information, putting together new documents, mediating human communication, managing tasks and more. If this sounds familiar, it’s because it should be — its more famous offshoot is Siri, Apple Inc.’s AAPL, -3.17% intelligent software assistant for iOS.

What about the database system? Again, a similar version already exists — in Estonia.

e-estonia.com

Now imagine giving the Siri-like AI the power to browse, modify, organize and understand documents in the government database, and you’ll be pretty close to what the AI from my story could do.

What about security issues? To prevent data theft and unauthorized manipulation, all of the data would be encrypted and backed up regularly, and users would be able to protect their own accounts with a multilevel protection system, including but not limited to special chip ID cards, passwords, and voice and face recognition. All of this can be hacked, of course, but then, the same can be said about someone breaking into your home or government office or website and stealing or forging your documents.

Another upside would be the rapid acceleration of the economy and a smaller, more agile government. What’s not to like? Please let me know in the comment section below.