Malta’s Public Sector Turns To Microsoft’s Copilot AI Platform To Ease Government Services

For governments facing rising demands on public services and constrained resources, artificial intelligence is moving from technological promise to practical tool.

Malta is putting that proposition to the test. Through Microsoft Copilot, the Malta Information Technology Agency (MITA), the government’s digital transformation lead, is helping public officers save time, improve consistency and integrate AI into everyday work.

The initiative now reaches more than 12,500 public officers, building on a Microsoft 365 platform serving more than 30,000 public service employees.

“Adoption has been extremely high, but the real value lies in behavioural change. Our teams are now integrating Copilot naturally into their daily operations and processes, making it a standard part of how they work, collaborate, and deliver services,” says Keith Aquilina, chief technology officer at MITA.

The rollout addresses familiar challenges in large organisations: labour-intensive processes, fragmented knowledge and inconsistent document quality. MITA identified 17 scenarios where AI could improve workflows, from drafting procurement documents to analysing contracts and summarising complex legislation.

Preparing tender documents can take weeks of technical work. Copilot can help generate initial drafts, allowing specialists to devote more time to reviewing requirements and ensuring compliance. Human oversight remains essential, particularly where legal obligations and public funds are involved.

Security was also central to the decision. MITA chief executive Emanuel Darmanin says Copilot’s integration into the government’s digital environment helps protect sensitive information by retaining processed and generated data within its government tenant.

The project reflects a broader ambition that Microsoft has pursued with Malta’s public sector.

“We know that the government has been looking at better ways of servicing the public more efficiently with today’s available technology,” says Kyle Anastasi of Microsoft Malta. “From our end, we wanted to show the government how Microsoft’s AI technology can help by automating processes as much as possible to help achieve new levels of efficiency.”

MITA established an AI Centre of Excellence and ran workshops to support adoption, prompt design, technical readiness and governance. The approach recognises that introducing AI at scale requires organisational change as well as technology.

Microsoft reports that the deployment has saved hundreds of hours across departments and improved output quality and consistency. Monthly active usage exceeds 90 per cent, while licence numbers have grown substantially from the initial rollout.

For Malta, the next challenge is to extend these gains while maintaining responsible oversight. In a public sector under pressure to deliver more with limited resources, AI’s success will ultimately be judged not by adoption figures alone, but by whether it helps government serve citizens more effectively.