Mumbai, Jan 23 (IANS): Government Chief Information Officers (CIOs) are likely to focus technology investments on Artificial Intelligence (AI), data analytics and cybersecurity in 2019, market research firm Gartner said on Wednesday.

Eighteen per cent CIOs across all levels of government have prioritised digital initiatives again this year, acknowledging that AI and data analytics would be the top "game-changing" technologies for the government in 2019, according to Gartner's "2019 CIO Agenda Survey".

AI has taken the lead as the top game-changing technology for government CIOs for 2019 with a 27 per cent investment interest rate, followed by data analytics with 22 per cent and cloud technologies with 19 per cent.

"The ability to leverage data strategically in real time will significantly improve government's ability to seamlessly deliver services, despite increased strain on finite resources," said Rick Howard, Vice President, Gartner.

The survey included the views of 3,102 CIO respondents across 89 countries and major industries, including 528 government CIOs.

Despite focusing on digital growth, only 17 per cent government CIOs plan to increase their investment in digital business initiatives, compared to the 34 per cent CIOs from other industries.

Among government respondents, 10 per cent have already deployed AI solutions, 39 per cent intend to deploy in the next one to two years and an additional 36 per cent intend to deploy them within the next two to three years.

According to the survey, while government CIOs demonstrated a clear vision in the potential for digital government, 45 per cent reported that they lacked the IT and business resources required to execute, Gartner claimed.