The Complete Guide to Using AI in the Government Industry in Papua New Guinea in 2025

In 2025 Papua New Guinea moved from conversation to concrete steps on AI: Port Moresby hosted the first‑ever Artificial Intelligence Summit on 7 April, where the Minister for ICT signalled a National AI Adoption Framework and pushed the SevisPass Digital ID as core public infrastructure - promising Single Sign‑On for up to 15 citizen services while warning that budget shortfalls slow rollout (Papua New Guinea AI Summit coverage April 7 2025, Papua New Guinea digital government progress update).

International studies show AI can cut case‑processing costs and boost service efficiency, yet an implementation gap remains, so PNG's public servants will need practical, hands‑on skills to pilot accountable systems; targeted training such as Nucamp's AI Essentials for Work bootcamp helps civil servants learn prompt writing and workplace AI use to turn small pilots into secure, inclusive services (Nucamp AI Essentials for Work syllabus).

“Artificial Intelligence is not the future - it is the now. But whether it becomes a tool for liberation or a driver of division depends on the choices we make today.”

AI matters for Papua New Guinea because it turns chronic bottlenecks into practical gains: international analyses show AI can streamline case processing and save governments as much as a third of those costs over a decade, while tools like document routing and chat copilot assistants free public servants to focus on complex, human-centred work rather than paperwork (see BCG's policy brief on benefits of AI in government).

Beyond cost savings, generative AI can amplify scarce PNG skills and capacity - accelerating policy analysis, fraud detection, and multilingual citizen services - provided pilots are governed, transparent and paired with targeted training.

Global studies also flag trust and privacy risks, which makes careful, phased rollouts essential; PNG's SevisPass and single sign‑on plans are precisely the kind of digital backbone that can let AI add value without leaking sensitive data.

For public servants ready to start small and scale responsibly, practical upskilling and hands‑on prompt practice are the fastest routes from experiment to repeatable service improvements (see Accenture on generative AI and local AI capacity building for civil servants).

“It's only when America's public sector [AI] is healthy that the ecosystem altogether is healthy. Especially when public sector AI shoulders the responsibility for deep knowledge discovery for good, for the public, as well as technological assessment and evaluation that is independent of for-profit motives.”

The PNG economy in 2025 sits at a pivot point: the World Bank's June 2025 update forecasts growth accelerating to about 4.7% this year (up from 3.8% in 2024), driven by both resource rebounds and improved agricultural output that matters for roughly 85% of the population; yet medium‑term growth may settle nearer 3% unless diversification and fiscal reforms take hold (World Bank PNG Economic Update - June 2025).

Digital policy and infrastructure are now part of that bet - government plans like SevisPass and the wider Digital Government Plan promise to unlock inclusion, add customers to banking and e‑commerce, and could lift GDP by an estimated 3–5% if fully implemented, while also helping tax compliance and service delivery (PNG ICT Ministry SevisPass and Digital Government Plan briefing, BiometricUpdate: SevisPass digital ID GDP impact analysis).

Risks remain: commodity price swings, political instability, and funding gaps (including a noted K7 million shortfall) could blunt gains, so pairing digital ID rollout with investments in rural connectivity, agriculture value chains and public‑sector skills is the practical path from promise to visible economic improvement for communities across PNG.

“SevisPass will serve as a Digital Public Infrastructure, enabling secure authentication across banking, telecommunications, and government systems. It will also unlock Single Sign‑On access to a wide array of services, including the upcoming SevisPortal, a G2C digital services app that will host up to 15 citizen services - from eVoting to school fee subsidy applications - in one platform.”

Papua New Guinea's policy landscape for AI now rests on a clear digital backbone: the Digital Government Act 2022 and the companion Digital Government Plan 2023–2027 create the legal and operational scaffolding that lets AI move from pilots into government services while insisting on coordination, security and accountability.

The Act - certified in July 2022 - requires public bodies to appoint digital transformation officers, establishes a National Cyber Security Centre and a Government Private Network, and even creates an Electronic Data Bank - a physical facility that will house the central electronic data repository and related cyber‑infrastructure, like a vault for the nation's digital records (Papua New Guinea Digital Government Act 2022 (official text)).

The five‑year Digital Government Plan lays out practical goals (G2G, G2B, G2C services), cloud and network strategies, and cybersecurity measures that are essential if AI tools are to be interoperable and privacy‑respecting (Digital Government Plan 2023–2027 for Papua New Guinea (full plan)).

That legal framework matters, because the Open Government Partnership review highlights a familiar gap: legislation exists but early implementation struggled due to limited funding, capacity and political turnover - so the next step for AI is not just rules but steady resourcing and local skills development to turn policy into dependable, widely trusted services (Open Government Partnership Papua New Guinea Results Report 2022–2024), a reminder that good laws must be matched by practical budgets and governance to deliver on AI's promise.

As of May 2025 Papua New Guinea had not yet enacted a standalone AI law but is moving quickly from principle to policy: Port Moresby's April AI Summit flagged a pending National AI Adoption Framework and stressed education, ethics and practical guardrails for public services (Papua New Guinea AI Summit April 2025 - ICT PNG coverage), while government papers note a National Data Protection and Governance Policy is still under development and cyber cooperation with Australia has been renewed to bolster resilience (Analysis of AI law developments in Papua New Guinea - LawGratis).

That domestic evolution is unfolding against a fast‑moving international backdrop - the EU's Artificial Intelligence Act, now phased in with key obligations for general‑purpose models and transparency rules through 2025–2026, has clear extraterritorial reach and is already shaping regulatory expectations across the Asia‑Pacific, meaning PNG's future rules will need to reckon with risk‑based classification, human oversight, and documentation requirements for high‑risk uses (EU Artificial Intelligence Act overview - Norton Rose Fulbright).

For PNG the practical takeaway is to pair executive action and sectoral guidance with data governance, capacity building and phased pilots so that AI strengthens services without widening privacy or fairness gaps.

“Artificial Intelligence is not the future - it is the now. But whether it becomes a tool for liberation or a driver of division depends on the choices we make today.”

Papua New Guinea's major digital initiatives are converging into a practical platform for government AI use: the SevisPNG programme - fronted by the upcoming SevisPass digital ID - is being positioned as the national digital public infrastructure that will enable eKYC, Single Sign‑On for up to 15 citizen services and seamless identity checks for banks and telcos, while the wider stack (SevisPortal, SevisDEx and SevisPay) promises to tie together G2C services, payments and secure inter‑agency data flows; the Department of ICT is also finalising a National AI Adoption Framework to guide responsible deployments so these building blocks power trustworthy AI-assisted processes like faster e‑government transactions and biometric verification ahead of planned electoral support (the rollout has been lauded for potential GDP and inclusion gains but remains hampered by funding pressures such as a noted K7 million shortfall).

See the Ministry briefing on SevisPass and the reporting on the planned SevisDEx data‑exchange platform for detail on how identity, data sharing and SSO will unlock government AI use cases across PNG.

“SevisPass will serve as a Digital Public Infrastructure, enabling secure authentication across banking, telecommunications, and government systems. It will also unlock Single Sign‑On access to a wide array of services, including the upcoming SevisPortal, a G2C digital services app that will host up to 15 citizen services - from eVoting to school fee subsidy applications - in one platform.”

NiuPay has become a standout private‑sector partner in PNG's digital shift, launching in March 2025 an AI‑powered visa processing platform that turned weeks‑long backlogs into real‑time decisions - capable of handling up to 1,000 applications a day and automating about 95% of short‑term visas, cutting average processing to under four minutes (see the AWS ICSA rollout case study and the APNGBC March 2025 launch coverage).

Built on AWS infrastructure in Australia but fully controlled by Papua New Guinea, the cloud system was designed to augment human officers, freeing staff to focus on complex cases while keeping border security intact, and it arrived as tourism demand and a planned 2028 NRL debut were set to push visitor numbers up.

Beyond migration, NiuPay's land‑tax and revenue tools have recovered millions of kina by replacing legacy systems, and the firm - founded in 2018 and now scaling local hires - partners with PNG University of Technology to grow homegrown AI talent that keeps the innovation rooted in country.

“When someone submits an application, it automatically uses all the supporting documents: passports, photos, letters of support, tickets, everything. What used to take days or weeks happens now in minutes.”

Biggest problems and implementation challenges for Papua New Guinea centre less on technology than on money, trust and skills: the flagship SevisPass faces real funding pressure - a K7 million shortfall (about US$1.7 million) in 2024 that ministers say must be closed if the digital ID is to become the national digital public infrastructure PNG needs (BiometricUpdate: SevisPass funding shortfall and digital ID plans); at the same time, the government is still finalising a National AI Adoption Framework and pressing universities to teach AI ethics and practical skills, which highlights a clear capacity gap for civil servants who must run, audit and explain AI systems (The National: Department finalising National AI Adoption Framework).

Other practical hurdles include phased, sector‑first rollouts (SevisPass began in the security sector), incomplete data‑governance instruments and fears about AI‑generated misinformation or cultural harm - so pilots must start small, be transparent and pair tech with local training and strict data controls to avoid widening inequality or eroding trust; targeted upskilling and simple, hands‑on pilots are the fastest route from experiment to reliable public services (AI Essentials for Work syllabus - AI capacity-building for civil servants).

“Despite the progress we've made, SevisPass has faced funding challenges in 2024 - including a K7 million budget shortfall.”

Practical adoption starts small, practical and governed: public servants should pick a mission‑first use case (a single process that materially improves a citizen interaction), form an Integrated Product Team with legal and security support, and empower a central technical resource to host pilots so tools are interoperable with PNG's SevisPass and Digital Government Plan; align every step with national and international frameworks to stay compliant and credible (see IPU guidance on alignment with AI frameworks).

Pair pilots with clear evaluation criteria and continuous monitoring - use REI Systems' readiness ideas like an AI use‑case portfolio, governance roles (a CAIO or equivalent), and pre‑deployment testing to make results auditable and scalable.

Invest in staff capability by running short, hands‑on prompt and data‑literacy bootcamps and embed training into IPT workflows (start small as suggested in local capacity pieces).

Secure procurement and data rights up front, adopt secure‑by‑design hosting choices, and require vendor transparency so models don't erode public trust; think of each pilot as a reversible, auditable “mini‑service” that proves value before wide rollout, with metrics that track accuracy, fairness and cost‑to‑serve so savings can be reinvested into more pilots and rural connectivity.

“The Code of Conduct for the Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence Tools has therefore been adopted, taking into account the Principles for the Use of AI in Support of Parliamentary Work, as laid down by the Supervisory Committee on Documentation Activities of the Chamber of Deputies, and having regard to the recommendations set forth in the 2024–2026 Three-Year Plan for ICT in the Public Administration, the Hiroshima Process International Code of Conduct for Advanced AI Systems as agreed by the G7, as well as the Guidelines for Secure AI System Development, promoted at the international level by the National Cyber Security Centre and signed on 27 November 2023 by the National Cybersecurity Agency.”

The future of AI in Papua New Guinea's government will be decided by practical choices: finish the National AI Adoption Framework and treat SevisPass as the secure digital backbone that it's meant to be, then pair that infrastructure with measured pilots, strong data governance and real investment to close the K7 million funding gap that has slowed rollout (see the Ministry briefing on SevisPass and the National AI Adoption Framework).

With only about 24.1% internet penetration and roughly 86% of the population living in rural areas, scaling AI-driven services depends as much on connectivity and inclusion as on models and code - so international partnerships and targeted capacity building are essential (see ICT Ministry AI adoption update and SevisPass briefing, Digital 2025: Papua New Guinea digital report).

Where policy meets practice, the fastest wins will come from small, auditable pilots that integrate with SevisPass, clear governance for high‑risk use cases, and hands‑on training so civil servants can write prompts, vet outputs and oversee vendors; practical courses such as the AI Essentials for Work bootcamp offer a 15‑week, workforce‑focused route to those skills and can help turn experiments into repeatable services (Nucamp AI Essentials for Work syllabus and course details).

With steady funding, local talent development and cautious, transparent rollouts, AI can shift PNG from promising pilots to inclusive public services that genuinely reach rural citizens.

“SevisPass will serve as a Digital Public Infrastructure, enabling secure authentication across banking, telecommunications, and government systems. It will also unlock Single Sign‑On access to a wide array of services, including the upcoming SevisPortal, a G2C digital services app that will host up to 15 citizen services - from eVoting to school fee subsidy applications - in one platform.”