In an interview with FedScoop, Charles Worthington, the VA’s CAIO and CTO, said the agency is engaged in targeted hiring for AI experts while also sustaining its existing modernization efforts. “I wish we could do more,” he said.

While Worthington wrestles with the proposed fiscal year 2025 funding reductions, the VA’s Office of Information and Technology also finds itself in the legislative crosshairs over modernization system upgrades, a supposed lack of AI disclosures and inadequate tech contractor sanctions and ongoing scrutiny over its electronic health record modernization initiative with Oracle Cerner. 

Worthington spoke to FedScoop about the VA’s embrace of AI, the status of its modernization push, how it is handling budget uncertainty and more.

Editor’s note: The transcript has been edited for clarity and length. 

FedScoop: I know that you’ve started your role as the chief AI officer at the Department of Veterans Affairs. And I wanted to circle back on some stuff that we’ve seen the VA engaged with this past year. The Office of Information and Technology has appeared before Congress, where legislators have voiced their concerns for AI disclosures, inadequate contractor sanctions, budgetary pitfalls in the fiscal year 2025 budget for VA OIT and the supply chain system upgrade. What is your response to them?

Charles Worthington: I think AI represents a really big opportunity for the VA and for every agency, because it really changes what our computing systems are going to be capable of. So I think we’re all going to have to work through what that means for our existing systems over the coming years, but I think really there’s hardly any part of VA’s software infrastructure that’s going to be untouched by this change in how computer systems work and what they’re capable of. So I think it’s obviously gonna be a big focus for us and for Congress over the next couple of years. 

FS: I want to take a step back and focus on the foundational infrastructure challenges that the VA has been facing. Do you attribute that to the emerging technologies’ need for more advanced computing power? What does that look like?

CW: I think overall, VA’s technical infrastructure is actually on a pretty good footing. We’ve spent a lot of time in the past 10 years with the migration to the cloud and with really leaning into using a lot of leading commercial products in the software-as-a-service model where that makes sense. So, by and large, I think we’ve done a good job of bringing our systems up to standard. I think it’s always a challenge in the VA and in government to balance the priorities of modernization and taking advantage of new capabilities with the priorities of running everything that you already have.

One of the unique challenges of this moment in time is that almost every aspect of the VA’s operations depends on technology in some way. There’s just a lot of stuff to maintain; I think we have nearly a thousand systems in operations. And then obviously, with something like AI, there’s a lot of new ideas about how we could do even more [to] use technology and even more ways to further our mission. 

FS: In light of these voiced concerns from legislators, as you progress into your role of chief AI officer, how do you anticipate the agency will be able to use emerging technologies like AI to its fullest extent?

CW: I think there’s really two priorities that we have with AI right now. One is, this represents an enormous opportunity to deliver services more effectively and provide great technology services to the VA staff, because these systems are so powerful and can do so many new things. One priority is to take advantage of these technologies, really to make sure that our operations are running as effectively as possible. 

On the other hand, I think this is such a new technology category that a lot of the existing processes we have around technology governance in government don’t apply in exactly the same ways to artificial intelligence. So in a lot of ways, there are novel concerns that AI brings. … With an AI system that is, instead, taking those inputs and then generating a best guess or generating some piece of content, the way that we need to make sure that those systems are working effectively, those are still being developed. At the same time, as we’re trying to take advantage of these new capabilities, we’re also trying to build a framework that will allow us to safely use and deploy these solutions to make sure that we’re upholding the trust that veterans put in us to manage their data securely. 

FS: In what ways is the agency prioritizing AI requirements, especially from the artificial intelligence executive order that we saw last October, and maintaining a competitive edge with the knowledge that the fiscal year 2025 budget has seen a significant clawback of funds?

CW: We are investing a lot in standing up, I would say, the AI operations and governance. We have four main priorities that we’re focused on right now. One is setting up that policy framework and the governance framework for how we’re going to manage these. We have already convened our first AI governance council meeting — we’ve actually had two of them — where we’re starting to discuss how the agency is going to approach managing our inventory of AI use cases and the policies that we’ll use. 

The second priority is really focused on our workforce. We need to make sure that our VA staff have the knowledge and the skills they need to be able to use these solutions effectively and understand what they’re capable of and also their limitations. We need to be able to bring in the right sort of talent to be able to buy and build these sorts of solutions. 

Third, we’re working on our infrastructure [to] make sure that we have the technical infrastructure in place for VA to actually either build or, in some cases, just buy and run AI solutions. 

Then, finally, we have a set of high-priority use cases that we’re really leaning into. This was one of the things that was specifically called out to the VA in the executive order, which was basically to run a couple of pilots — we call them tech sprints — on AI.

FS: I would definitely love to hear some insights from you personally about some challenges you’re anticipating with artificial intelligence, especially as you’ve referenced that the VA has already been using AI.

CW: I think one of the challenges right now is that most of the AI use cases are built in a very separate way from the rest of our computing systems. So if you take a predictive model, it maybe takes a set of inputs and then generates a prediction, which is typically a number. But how do you actually integrate that prediction into a system that somebody’s already using is a challenge that we see, I think, with most of these systems.

In my opinion, integrating AI with more traditional types of software is going to be one of the biggest challenges of the next 10 years. VA has got over a thousand systems and to really leverage these tools effectively, you’d ideally like to see these capabilities integrated tightly with those systems so that it’s all kind of one workflow, and it appears naturally as a way that can assist the person with the task they’re trying to achieve, as opposed to something that’s in a different window that they’ve got to flip back and forth between. 

I feel like right now, we’re in that awkward stage where most of these tools are a different window … where there’s a lot of flipping back and forth between tools and figuring out how best to integrate those AI tools with the more traditional systems. I think that’s just kind of a relatively unfigured-out problem. Especially, if you think of a place like VA, where we have a lot of legacy systems, things that have been built over the past number of decades, oftentimes updating those is not the easiest thing. So I think it really speaks to the importance of modernizing our software systems to make them easier to change, more flexible, so that we can add things like AI or just other enhancements.

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The order’s requirements span the tech talent surge to guidance for various types of AI. Announcements from this deadline include guidance on generative AI tools for hiring, a safety and security board focused on AI and a new generative AI guidance for federal purchasers. 

The White House credited federal agencies with the completion of requirements for the deadline, and included announcements for requirements in the executive order that were due at a later date. Additionally, the executive branch reported that “agencies also progressed on other work tasked by the E.O. over longer timeframes.”

Here are five takeaways from the White House’s 180-day announcement:

1. The AI talent surge’s progress report

The AI and Tech Talent Task Force reported a 288% increase in AI job applications via a combination of agency hiring, the U.S. Digital Corps, the U.S. Digital Service and the presidential innovation fellows program. 

Additionally, the task force offered 10 recommendations throughout the federal government for “further increasing AI capacity.”

The task force recommends institutionalizing the U.S. Digital Corps and other technology recruitment programs, enhancing user experience on USAJOBS through the updating of digital service capabilities, exploring a talent exchange engagement with foreign partners that are also looking to invest in AI-related talent and more. 

The report calls on Congress to grant agencies the ability to use flexible hiring authorities for the AI-talent surge, while also offering pay incentives and support for rotational practices. 

Significantly, the task force reported that the Office of Personnel Management has “developed a legislative proposal” that aims to enhance compensation flexibilities. That proposal “has been transmitted to Congress.”

2. New actions from the Department of Energy

The DOE announced several AI-related actions at the deadline that focused on both cybersecurity and environmental concerns, including a new website that exhibits agency-developed AI tools and models. 

The agency’s Office of Critical and Emerging Technologies released a report addressing the potential AI has to “significantly enhance how we manage the [electric] grid” and how climate change’s effect on the environment “will require a substantial increase in the rate of modernization and decarbonization” of the grid. The report offers considerations for how large language models might assist compliance with federal permitting, how AI could enhance resilience and more. 

DOE has also announced a $13 million investment to build AI-powered tools to improve the siting and permitting of clean energy infrastructure for a new VoltAlc initiative. Significantly, the agency announced that it is establishing a working group to make recommendations by June on meeting the energy demands for AI and data center infrastructure. 

Additionally, the agency’s Cybersecurity, Energy Security and Emergency Response (CESER)  unit worked with energy sector partners — with support from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory — to create an interim assessment to identify opportunities and potential risks regarding AI use within the sector.

3. Department of Labor guidance on AI and tech-based hiring systems

The DOL was six months early on meeting its requirement to publish guidance for contractors regarding non-discrimination in talent acquisition that involves AI and other technology-based hiring programs. 

The report points to the use of AI systems as having the potential to continue discrimination and unlawful bias. It requires federal contractors to cooperate with the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) by providing requested information on their AI systems in order to prevent discrimination.

Contractors are not insulated from the risk of violating equal employment opportunity or obligations if they use automated systems, the agency states in the report. OFCCP also noted obligations related to AI with regard to  investigations into compliance evaluations and complaints  to identify if a contractor is abiding by nondiscrimination requirements. 

While OFCCP reported that it does not endorse products or issue compliance certifications, it does encourage federal contractors to be transparent about AI use in the hiring process and with employment decisions, while nd safeguarding private information of all involved parties. 

4. USDA’s framework for state, local, tribal and territorial (SLTT) public administrative use of AI

The U.S. Department of Agriculture issued a framework for SLTTs to use AI to administer the agency’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) programs, which include school breakfast, summer food service, emergency food assistance and more. 

The guidance states that FNS will work with SLTTs for risk management, and lays out four categories of risk for AI usage in regard to the service, ranging from low to high.

USDA recommends a “human in the loop” in AI implementation for risk mitigation. The framework recommends that  staffers who provide human oversight for AI-enabled functions “should receive sufficient training” to assess AI models or functions for accurate outputs. 

The agency also outlines how other uses of the technology may be “rights-impacting” or “safety-impacting,” as designated by FNS.

5. A framework for nucleic acid synthesis screening

The Office of Science and Technology Policy, the National Science and Technology Council and the Fast Track Action Committee for Synthetic Nucleic Acid Procurement Screening released a framework to encourage synthetic nucleic acid providers to implement screening mechanisms to prevent the misuse of AI for “engineering dangerous biological materials.” 

This guidance builds on a Department of Health and Human Services strategy document released in October 2023. 

OSTP said in a release that the National Institute of Standards and Technology “will further support implementation of this framework” through engagement with industry entities to “develop technical standards for screening.”

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USAID and State’s public notice, posted Friday in the Federal Register, requests information on the barriers and opportunities presented by AI, focusing specifically on responsible usage, AI policy and protections and public engagement with AI governance and risks. A USAID official said in an interview with FedScoop that the agency is thinking about “equitable access” to tools that “may exacerbate gaps that we already see in the world.”

This request for information is one step toward the agency’s sole requirement in President Joe Biden’s AI executive order: USAID has one year to “promote safe, responsible and right’s-affirming development and deployment of AI abroad” through an AI in Global Development Playbook, according to the order’s text. 

The USAID official told FedScoop that the playbook is “really going to outline some principles, some guidelines and really best practices that are accounting for both the social, technical, economic, human rights and security conditions that are going to be impacted by artificial intelligence — specifically not just beyond the U.S. borders, but in countries that USAID works in, which I have to say aren’t always the countries that people are paying attention to.”

Much of the agency’s use of AI has been in continuing the advancement of global development, including a current partnership with Duke University that is focused on authoritarianism and the closing of civic space that allows support organizations, members of the media and others to respond to “growing restrictions on democratic freedoms of association, assembly and expression.”

“We’re equally focused on the potential of emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and how they can both accelerate and erode development progress,” the USAID official said. “What that means for us is just this balance of mitigation of risk and understanding that harm. This is largely something that’s important for us to learn and understand. … In some countries, you’re finding folks going all in, because they’re seeing that learning AI tools and learning how to build AI tools and how to use AI tools, in some ways, that is the way that they’re going to leapfrog in this global economy and in this rapidly changing economy.”

The USAID official stated that the agency has been using AI “for years” and is trying to harness the technology with the agency’s mission in mind. Internally, USAID is looking to minimize time on tasks that do not directly correlate with “high-value tasks.” 

“We’re at an agency that is quite literally trying to solve the world’s most pressing challenges,” the official said. “There will never be enough people, enough hours or enough money to do that. So these types of tools like artificial intelligence can help us be more targeted in our approach. If some tasks can be a bit more automated, that’s great, and certainly making sure that we mitigate the risk by putting human eyes on the final products to make sure that it has integrity, that the datasets we’re working on have integrity.”

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The council, in compliance with the White House’s AI executive order, will be tasked by the FCC with considering the role that the technology plays in enhancing communication networks and the reliability risks it poses for emerging technologies like 6G networks and next-generation 911 networks, according to the public notice. The council is expected to begin meeting in June 2024 and convene for two years

Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel is seeking nominations for CSRIC IX; the council will be co-chaired by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

“The FCC is continuing our work with our federal partners and the private sector to bolster the security and resiliency of the nation’s communications networks and I am pleased that CISA has agreed to again co-chair” CSRIC, Rosenworcel said in the release. “CSRIC is one of our key venues for tackling these complex issues, which is why I am once again re-establishing CSRIC and charging it with developing plans to address the communications security challenges of tomorrow, setting a path for a more secure and innovative future.”

In the executive order, the agency is “encouraged” to examine the potential for AI to enhance spectrum management and non-federal spectrum usage, as well as expand potential opportunities for non-federal spectrum sharing. 

Additionally, the FCC is required to offer support for efforts to improve network security and interoperability that involve AI, which includes “self-healing networks,” 6G and Open RAN. 
The agency previously voted to launch an inquiry on AI’s impact on robocalls and robotexts, another responsibility that the executive order encourages the FCC to fulfill through rulemaking.

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The long-awaited order arrived with a laundry list of requirements for agencies, which are now tasked with growing the federal talent pool with workers who have experience in AI research, development, procurement and deployment. 

To fill that pool, the Biden administration is “putting a lot of emphasis on bringing in talent from everywhere,” White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Arati Prabhakar said in an interview with FedScoop, underlining the importance foreign nationals will play in getting the federal government up to speed on AI.

The executive order’s callouts to boost the AI workforce within federal agencies “is just the next chapter of a long American story of people, American kids going into science and technology and making huge contributions,” Prabhakar said. “Also coupled with being able to attract some amazing talent from around the world and who come here for these tremendous opportunities in our country. [White House officials] very much want to make sure both of those continue to happen.”

At AI.gov, the Biden administration has highlighted both immigrant and nonimmigrant pathways for foreign nationals to bring their knowledge of AI to the federal government. 

And in cases where agencies face challenges in the form of lengthy hiring processes or other roadblocks for meeting workforce requirements laid out in the order, OSTP is providing “levers” to help, Prabhakar said. That includes AI-specific cohorts, created by the Presidential Innovation Fellows and the U.S. Digital Corps, bringing talent from the private sector to the public sector.

Lynne Parker, a former deputy U.S. chief technology officer who assisted with the Trump White House’s 2020 executive order that called on agencies to annually create AI use case inventories, said in an interview with FedScoop that there is a “shortage” of AI talent. There’s also the challenge, Parker added, of the government competing for AI talent with industry,  where individuals are able to solve “interesting problems” for higher pay. 

“If you’re going to be training the talent in our universities here, then obviously it makes a lot of sense for us to try to recruit them to stay here to benefit the United States,” Parker said. “Since there’s such a huge shortfall of talent, I think there’s that emphasis on immigration, [which] is a recognition of the fact that … a high percentage of people who are getting that expert-level training [in AI] are coming from overseas. That’s where I think the most immediate pipeline of available talent is.”

Parker said it’s possible that “many Ph.D. graduates would like to go into academia, but they may feel like it’s too difficult to get the research funding that they need in order to be successful.” But if funding were available to train more students, and funding was easier to attain, then individuals may be more inclined to go into academia to train the next generation, she said.

Prabhakar, meanwhile, noted the various open roles for AI across the government makes clear the “need to learn how to use this powerful technology in really creative ways that are deeply responsible as a great way for government to lead by example in the use of AI.” 

“We were thrilled with the response to the AI talent surge when the executive order came out,” she added. “Just an enormous volume of wonderful resumes that came in —  people who have built all the data systems and the computational capacity that you have to have [in order] to use AI intelligently.”

OSTP is trying to leverage effective tech talent programs deployed over the past decade to bring more tech-centric skills into government, Prabhakar said, with the aim of providing those interested in working on AI with more opportunities in federal agencies. 

The feedback from agencies on the EO’s actions, including workforce requirements, has so far been positive, according to Olivia Zhu, a senior policy adviser with OSTP. In an interview with FedScoop, Zhu said the White House is “super optimistic that we’ve gotten a really large influx of interest from the public.”

“When we were creating this executive order, the president directed the team to pull every lever,” Zhu said. “The feedback is reflecting our intentions of understanding that AI has such broad applications in various areas, right from the workforce to the use in government, to ensuring that we have safety standards.”

This article was updated Dec. 22, 2023, with quotes from OSTP’s Olivia Zhu.

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Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., echoed testimony from other lawmakers and witnesses in affirming that responsibility and safety are needed for AI development to protect against bad actors. However, the EO doesn’t follow her preferred “light touch and market-driven approach” paired with clear guidance for industry. 

“While I agree with [President Joe Biden] that the best way to cementing American AI leadership is by first enacting a comprehensive data privacy and security law,” McMorris Rodgers said, “I am concerned that the order itself places unnecessary and duplicative regulatory burdens that could hinder the development of this critical technology.”

There was general bipartisan agreement Tuesday on the need for a foundation for legislative action to protect citizens’ data privacy while also promoting innovative solutions and competition throughout the private sector. While McMorris Rodgers had issues with the private-sector matters in the EO, Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., the subcommittee’s ranking member, applauded its ability to hold AI developers and distributors accountable. 

“Thankfully the Biden administration has engaged industry to establish consensus goals and guardrails that will guide AI’s deployment in the United States,” Matsui said. “President Biden’s recent executive order on safe, secure and trustworthy artificial intelligence is a testament to this administration’s vision.”

Matsui said that the order ensures that the nation will lead the way on AI while also managing its risks. The EO accomplishes that via transparency requirements for those who develop AI systems that could pose a threat to the country’s national and economic security. 

“President Biden’s EO represents the most broad and consequential steps toward more responsible AI governance,” Matsui said. “I look forward to working with the administration to implement it quickly.”

Subcommittee members emphasized the importance of establishing foundational efforts to encourage AI development and implementation to aid government entities, as well as the continued efforts of Congress to work with industry leaders on legislation that allows others to harness AI’s benefits and protect the public’s data security.

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GSA Administrator Robin Carnahan told FedScoop in an interview at the signing ceremony for the executive order that the policy will push her agency to protect government data and use it responsibly within AI tools, encourage experimentation of the technology — particularly generative AI — and increase the pipeline of AI talent using additional resources.

“We’re very focused on protecting our data and figuring out how to use our datasets in ways that are responsible and aren’t subjected to misrepresentations of other things. So that’s the number one goal from the EO,” Carnahan told FedScoop. 

“We’re also very focused on experimentation. We’re encouraging people to try new AI projects — we’re tracking it very closely but we’re also encouraging experimentation of AI. In fact just yesterday, I signed up for access to be able to use these popular generative AI tools myself – three or four of them that I was allowed to use. So talk to me about that in a few weeks,” she added.

GSA, which plays a key role in the federal government’s procurement of software, could leverage its buying data with AI tools to get lower costs and better value for federal agencies.

“We want to use AI to advance our mission and do things more effectively. We do a lot of procurement, for example, so there’s lots of potential for using our huge amounts of data and using AI to get the best prices and best value for the agencies that we represent. And also open up opportunities for businesses,” Carnahan said.

Carnahan said earlier this year that GSA is “laser-focused” on hiring talent to get the right expertise needed to update the agency’s processes and systems. Biden’s AI executive order has only intensified and clarified the need to do this as soon as possible, particularly when it comes to drastically increasing the number of skilled AI workers in the federal government. 

“One of the things that we’re tasked with doing in the EO, along with some other agencies, is to really spend time recruiting talent into government. We’ve got a couple of places to do that with like the Presidential Innovation Fellows program and the U.S. Digital Corps — both of which are going to be targeting specifically bringing more AI talent in the government and that’s both for GSA, but as you know, they will get spread around all federal agencies,” said Carnahan.

She added that GSA plans to “incrementally expand” the two tech talent programs for the purposes of executing the AI executing order’s requirement of meeting the demand for AI skilled workers. 

Carnahan earlier this year said federal agencies have the money and momentum to improve service delivery and customer experience, which she hopes can be achieved more quickly through AI tools and their underlying infrastructure powered by powerful cloud resources. The modernization of the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) will be key to that.

“The other thing we’re very focused on is FedRAMP. So it’s our job to be able to, you know, get FedRAMP portable for these cloud resources. And there are gonna be more and more of these AI-related asks. So making sure that’s a streamlined process, so people can have access to tools is going to be important,” the administrator said.

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The VA’s new artificial intelligence tech sprint is meant to encourage American innovators to create AI-centered tools to aid in clinicians’ note-taking and/or integrate patients’ medical records. 

Monday’s executive order called for advancements in the development of AI systems to improve veterans’ health care, with two three-month AI Tech Sprint competitions within a year of the EO. The measure also seeks to support the “innovative capacity” of small businesses.

“It’s really about looking at making these private-public partnerships, right, and establishing that connection on the journey together with companies, industry, nonprofits, academia and others around this theme,” Dr. Gil Alterovitz, the VA’s chief AI officer and director of the agency’s National Artificial Intelligence Institute, said in an interview with FedScoop. It’s “around making sure that AI is trustworthy for our veterans.”

The agency called for proposals that address one or both of its focus areas: speech-to-text solutions for appointments and document processing to more seamlessly integrate an individual’s non-VA medical records into their VA record. 

“AI solutions can help us reduce the time that clinicians spend on non-clinical work, which will get our teams doing more of what they love most: caring for veterans,” Shereef Elnahal, the VA’s under secretary for health, said in a statement. “This effort will reduce burnout among our clinicians and improve veteran health care at the same time.”

This tech sprint is the first of two nationwide competitions that the executive order requires the VA secretary to implement. The order also notes that the competitions can be “in collaboration with appropriate partners.”

The sprints are required to provide participants with technical assistance, opportunities for mentorship, personalized expert feedback on developing products, opportunities for contract work and other resources.

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