Artificial intelligence is frequently discussed as a solution to government’s technology gap, but the more fundamental issue, according to Justin Fulcher, is the infrastructure into which any new tool must fit. Many federal agencies still depend on systems built in prior decades, systems that were never designed to share data, process digital documents at scale, or support the kind of real-time decision-making modern government requires. AI cannot solve a workflow problem if the workflow itself is broken.

The Compounding Effect of Old Systems

Fulcher describes this situation using the term institutional drag. It captures something important: the problem is not any single failing but the cumulative effect of many small inefficiencies stacked on top of each other. A form that must be printed and hand-signed. A database that cannot communicate with the one next to it. A compliance check that requires three different approvals because the original process assumed a world without digital records.

Each of these friction points is manageable in isolation. Together, they slow agencies to a pace that strains both employees and the citizens waiting on results. In his writing, Fulcher has argued that core systems across government, defense, healthcare, and infrastructure operate as if it were 1975, and the gap between that operating model and current demands keeps widening.

What AI Can Absorb

Justin Fulcher’s framework for AI in government is deliberately limited in scope. He is not arguing for the automation of judgment-intensive work or the replacement of civil servants. The opportunity he identifies is narrower: AI can absorb the routine, repetitive, time-consuming tasks that consume bandwidth without requiring human expertise. Document review. Data consolidation. Routine correspondence. Scheduling. Compliance verification.

These applications do not require reinventing agency structure. They require identifying where manual work accumulates, deploying tools that handle that work reliably, and measuring whether throughput improves.

Fulcher’s record in government gives credibility to this approach. As a Senior Advisor to the Secretary of Defense, he contributed to acquisition reforms that shortened procurement cycles from years to months. He co-founded RingMD before that, scaling a healthcare technology company across Asia. The thread connecting both experiences is the same: clear problem identification, targeted intervention, and patient implementation.

For agencies exploring AI, that sequence matters more than the technology itself. See related link for additional information.

 

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