A serverless Step Functions workflow ingests data from an external API, transforms it with multiple AWS Lambda functions, and writes results to DynamoDB. The workflow must take different paths depending on the content of incoming messages. Which Step Functions state type should be used to implement conditional branching?

The Choice state is used to add conditional logic to a Step Functions workflow. It allows the workflow to take different paths based on the values of input data, which is essential for implementing branching logic depending on the content of incoming messages. The Parallel state runs multiple branches of a workflow concurrently, not conditionally. The Task state represents a single unit of work performed by a service like Lambda, not for branching. The Map state iterates over a collection of items and executes the same steps for each item, which is for iteration, not conditional branching.