The legislation, among other things, would establish pilot programs to try out “more flexible, competitive purchasing practices” and require that government contracts for AI “to include safety and security terms for data ownership, civil rights, civil liberties and privacy, adverse incident reporting and other key areas,” according to a release.

“Artificial intelligence has the power to reshape how the federal government provides services to the American people for the better, but if left unchecked, it can pose serious risks,” Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., who sponsors the bill with Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said in a statement. “These guardrails will help guide federal agencies’ responsible adoption and use of AI tools, and ensure that systems paid for by taxpayers are being used safely and securely.”

According to the release, the Promoting Responsible Evaluation and Procurement to Advance Readiness for Enterprise-wide Deployment (PREPARED) for AI Act builds on a law passed in 2022 that required agencies to protect privacy and civil rights when purchasing AI. That legislation was also sponsored by Peters. President Joe Biden cited that law in a section of his executive order on AI that directed the Office of Management and Budget to take action on addressing federal AI acquisition. 

The OMB in March asked for input on AI procurement, including how the administration can promote competition and protect the government’s rights to access its data in those contracts. The administration has said it plans to take action on AI procurement later this year.

“As the role of artificial intelligence in the public and private sectors continues to grow, it is crucial federal agencies have a robust framework for procuring and implementing AI safely and effectively,” Tillis said in the release. 

A Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee aide told FedScoop that Peters, who chairs the panel, plans a markup for the bill this summer. Once it’s passed by the panel, the aide said Peters “will keep all options on the table and pursue any path forward, whether that’s advancing the bill as a standalone or as part of a larger vehicle.” 

The bill has the support of Center for Democracy and Technology, Transparency Coalition, the AI Procurement Lab, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), according to the release.

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NOAA’s budget request seeks $6.6 billion in discretionary appropriations, an increase of $224.8 million from the enacted level for fiscal year 2024. But under that request, certain programs would still see decreases, which lawmakers on the Environment Subcommittee of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee called into question Tuesday.

In opening remarks, Rep. Frank Lucas, R-Okla., who chairs the full committee, said he was “extremely disappointed” that NOAA’s proposed budget decreases funding for its Oceanic and Atmospheric Research division and weather and air chemistry research programs. Those programs were given additional responsibilities and increased authorizations under the bipartisan Weather Act Reauthorization passed in April.

“Yes the budget request is simply a request, and at the end of the day Congress controls the purse strings,” Lucas said. “But the budget request is also a message to all stakeholders and industry, and NOAA’s message is this: the need for improved early and accurate forecasting of severe weather is not a priority for this administration.”

Rep. Deborah Ross, D-N.C., the subcommittee’s ranking member, expressed similar concerns in her opening remarks about cuts to programs within the OAR and the National Ocean Service. 

“These funding reductions would negatively impact NOAA’s capacity to execute coastal observations, ecosystem protection, ocean exploration, innovative research, educational outreach and many more important functions that advance the agency’s mission,” Ross said. “I hope we can discuss strategies to continue the essential work of these programs even under the constraints of the Fiscal Responsibility Act.”

The Fiscal Responsibility Act is a compromise deal that temporarily suspended the debt limit and set caps on defense and nondefense discretionary spending through fiscal years 2024 and 2025. That deal has an additional constraint to the budget process, causing agencies to make difficult choices about their investments.

The hearing also comes as science agencies and programs across the government experienced reductions in the fiscal year 2024 appropriations, including OAR. While the budget for 2025 would be an overall increase in discretionary spending for the agency, it would also decrease the agency’s National Ocean Service budget by 14% and the OAR budget by 11%, according to numbers provided by the subcommittee.

NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad said in his opening remarks that the budget request seeks funding for five areas: investing in the next generation of environmental satellites; addressing climate change through training professionals and expanding technology; providing science and data that informs economic development; improving knowledge-sharing and service delivery in tribal, urban, and rural communities; and reducing the agency’s maintenance backlog. 

Spinrad said NOAA is prioritizing funding for its satellite constellation. That includes development of its Geostationary Extended Observations satellite program, which the agency says aims to expand weather, climate and ocean observations. 

Notably, the National Weather Service also plans to begin transitioning the Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System to a cloud framework. Spinrad said that work “will give forecasters secure remote access to provide in-person, impact-based decision support services to decision-makers anytime, anywhere.”

Another program that received attention for proposed cuts was the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System Program, known as IOOS, which uses data and technologies to provide information and forecasts for the ocean, coasts and Great Lakes.

Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, D-Ore., asked Spinrad how the fiscal year 2025 budget request proposes a $32.5 million cut, or 76% reduction, to that program’s funding, adding that she’s “concerned about some kind of budgetary cliff” when funds from the Inflation Reduction Act expire. That bill provided $3.3 billion to NOAA.

Spinrad said IOOS is one of several programs that reflects “the very difficult decisions that we had to make in this budget,” in part because of the constraints under the Fiscal Responsibility Act and the agency’s commitment to sustaining its current work, such as its investment in satellites and ensuring mission-essential functions don’t falter. 

While the IRA is providing some funding for the program, Spinrad said, it’s not one-for-one. He said he’s meeting with IOOS regional directors to understand what the reductions mean. “We’ve directed that data management [and] cyber infrastructure be the specific activity that is sustained,” he said.

Ross also told Spinrad she was concerned about staffing cuts at the National Weather Service, especially as the hurricane season “is predicted to be extremely active.” 

The fiscal year 2024 budget cut roughly 100 positions from the NWS, Ross said, adding that if the fiscal year 2025 budget doesn’t increase staffing to inflation levels, it “could increase the burden on an already strained workforce.” She asked Spinrad how an “austere” staffing budget would impact the service.

“Our ability to bring people on board is not where I want it to be,” Spinrad said, adding that the agency hired 1,700 people last year, but still needs to focus on retention. NWS Director Ken Graham, Spinrad noted, “is working aggressively to optimize the staffing plan” for weather forecast offices.

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Four FBI technology officials who spoke at a GDIT event in Washington detailed the agency’s focus on promoting AI innovations where those tools are merited — such as in its tip line — and ensuring uses could ultimately meet the law enforcement agency’s need to have technology that could later be defended legally. 

In the generative AI space, the pace of change in models and use cases is a concern when the agency’s “work has to be defensible in court,” David Miller, the FBI’s interim chief technology officer, said during the Scoop News Group-produced event. “That means that when we deploy and build something, it has to be sustainable.”

That Shark Tank format, which the agency has noted it’s used previously, allows the FBI to educate its organization about its efforts to explore the technology in a “safe and secure way,” centralize use cases, and get outcomes it can explain to leadership.

Under the model, which ostensibly is named after the popular ABC show “Shark Tank,” Miller said the agency has put in place a constraint of 90 days to prove a concept and at the end the agency has “validated learnings” about cost, missing skill sets that are needed, and potentially any concerns for integrating it in the organization. 

“By establishing that director’s innovation Shark Tank model, it allows us to have really strategic innovation in doing outcomes,” Miller said. 

Some AI uses are already being deployed at the agency.

Cynthia Kaiser, deputy assistant director of the FBI’s Cyber Division, pointed to the agency’s use of AI to help manage the FBI tip line. That phone number serves as a way for the public to provide information to the agency. While Kaiser said there will always be a person taking down concerns or tips through that line, she also said people can miss things. 

Kaiser said the FBI is using natural language processing models to go over the synopsis of calls and online tips to see if anything was missed. That AI is trained using the expertise of people who have been taking in the tips for years and know what to flag, she said, adding that the technology helps the agency “fill in the cracks.” 

According to the Justice Department’s use case inventory for AI, that tool has been used since 2019, and is also used to “screen social media posts directed to the FBI.” It is one of five uses listed for the FBI. Other disclosed uses include translation software and Amazon’s Rekognition tool, which has attracted controversy in the past for its use as a facial recognition tool.

To assess AI uses and whether they’re needed, the officials also said the agency is looking to its AI Ethics Council, which has been around for several years.

Miller, who leads that body, said that council includes membership from across the agency, including the scientific technology and human resource branches, and offices for integrity and compliance, and diversity, equity and inclusion. Currently, the council is going through what Miller called “version two” in which it’s tackling scale and doing more “experimental activities.” 

At the time it was created, Miller said, the panel established a number of ethical controls similar to that of the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Risk Management Framework. But he added that it can’t spend “weeks reviewing a model or reviewing one use case” and has to look at how it can “enable the organization to innovate” while still taking inequities and constraints into account. 

Officials also noted that important criteria for the agency’s own use of the technology are transparency and consistency. 

Kathleen Noyes, the FBI’s section chief of Next Generation Technology and Lawful Access, said on Tuesday that one of the agency’s requests for industry is that systems “can’t be a black box.”

“We need some transparency and accountability for knowing when we’re invoking an AI capability and when we’re not,” Noyes said.

She said the FBI started with a risk assessment in which it analyzed its needs and use cases to assist with acquisition and evaluation. “We had to start strategic — I think everyone does,” she said, adding that the first question to answer is “are we already doing this?”

At the same event, Justin Williams, deputy assistant director for the FBI’s Information Management Division, also noted that an important question when they’re using AI is whether they can explain the interface.

“I personally have used a variety of different AI tools, and I can ask the same question and get very similar but different answers,” Williams said. But, he added, it wouldn’t be good for the FBI if it can’t defend the consistency in the outputs it’s getting. That’s a “big consideration” for the agency as it slowly adopts emerging technologies, Williams said.

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In a letter dated May 9 and made public this week, Ernst primarily requested details about how the SBA is managing IT investments through its IT Working Capital Fund, which the Iowa Republican said it hasn’t used appropriately. But she also probed the agency for details about its AI use cases, alleging the SBA had uses it hadn’t reported publicly in its annual inventory.

“In a recent interview, you stated that the SBA has embraced AI. Despite this, the SBA has not been transparent and reports that it has not used AI,” wrote Ernst, ranking member of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. 

AI use case inventories, which were required initially under a Trump-era executive order and later enshrined into statute, are intended to provide information about agency uses of the technology in disclosures posted on their websites. 

However, Stanford research, a Government Accountability Office review, and FedScoop reporting have found that AI inventories have lacked consistency and, in some cases, have omitted uses that should be made public. The Biden administration has recently expanded reporting requirements for those inventories and is looking to improve them.

While the SBA’s AI use case inventory currently shows no uses of the technology, Ernst cited several instances in which the agency had publicly touted AI use cases at the agency. 

She highlighted a May 2023 press release that stated “SBA will use advanced data analytics, third party data checks, and artificial intelligence tools for fraud review on all loans in the 7(a) and 504 Loan Programs prior to approval, starting August 1, 2023.” 

Ernst also pointed to a June 2023 press release that said the agency had used “several tools, including first-of-its-kind artificial intelligence,” to block millions of applications for pandemic relief that were ineligible, duplicative, or attempts at fraud.

In addition to IT investment information and AI disclosure, Ernst also requested information about how SBA planned to use its IT Working Capital Fund to improve its score for the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act.

Ernst said despite the establishment of the fund — which was created under the Modernizing Government Technology Act that became law in 2017 — SBA “has had declining performance in its efforts to manage IT and implement” FITARA. In the past three years, the agency hasn’t achieved higher than a “C” on its FITARA score, which tracks agency IT modernization progress.

The SBA confirmed to FedScoop that it had received the letter but didn’t provide further comment. Ernst had requested a response by May 23.

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The correspondence from the officers of American Federation of Government Employees Local 3810 to Assistant Secretary Alejandra Y. Castillo, which was obtained by FedScoop, alleges that agency leaders haven’t taken union input seriously. It seeks several actions to remedy the situation, including a memorandum of understanding on the agency’s “return-to-work” policy and mediation services to “reestablish a healthy relationship.”

If those goals aren’t met in a “reasonable timeframe,” the union “will not hesitate to file an unfair labor charge against EDA with the National Labor Relations Board,” citing support from AFGE and the AFL-CIO, with which it’s affiliated.

“We have continuously expressed that the Agency’s ‘return-to-office’ policy will result in increased turnover and seriously jeopardize the Agency’s ability to function, yet conversations on how to best address our concerns have completely stalled,” according to the letter dated May 28. 

The union further stated the agency is losing workers to other organizations that provide telework and cited a recent member survey that it said paints “a picture of an agency on the brink of collapse.” That survey, the letter said, found more than half of respondents were applying for positions outside the agency and nearly two-thirds would accept a job outside EDA.

“I don’t think this is a problem that’s specific to EDA. I think this is a governmentwide problem,” Ryan Zamarripa, the vice president of Local 3810, said of agency telework policies in an interview with FedScoop. “I think that we’re going to see a pretty decreased ability in the executive branch to carry out its duties if we continue to go against the grain on what we know is an effective way to work.”

Zamarripa, who noted he was speaking in his capacity as an officer for the local and not for the agency, said the union has received a response from Castillo that the letter was received and she plans to respond in full.

In a statement emailed to FedScoop addressing the letter, Castillo and Ben Page, EDA’s chief operating officer and deputy assistant secretary for economic development, said leadership “has strived to engage and maintain a healthy working relationship with the union and the employees it represents.”

“Throughout this period of exponential programmatic growth, EDA’s leadership team, our union, and our stakeholders have engaged in frequent, real-time dialogue about where we are, and where we are headed, including in the thoughtful planning for our required increased office attendance,” Castillo and Page wrote. “These conversations have happened both privately, as well as through frequent leadership team calls and open town halls.”

As with the private sector, pandemic-era telework policies in federal agencies and plans to bring workers back into physical offices have been the subject of occasionally contentious debate. The Biden administration has recently expanded overseas telework efforts and officials have noted benefits of preserving at least some remote work options in hearings on Capitol Hill. 

Those policies have come under fire from congressional Republicans who have questioned agency oversight of remote workers and their levels of productivity. But there have been some bipartisan efforts on telework policy, including bills aimed at establishing transparency and management practices for remote positions and promoting better data collection to provide insights about telework performance. 

The EDA focuses on supporting economic development in regions across the country by providing funding and resources to communities. According to Zamarripa, the union represents roughly 70 EDA workers in roles throughout the United States. Over the past few years, those workers have rolled out billions of dollars in federal initiatives such as the CARES Act, the American Rescue Plan Act, and the CHIPS and Science Act.

During the height of the pandemic, the EDA, like other agencies, was fully remote, Zamarripa said. Currently, the agency requires workers to come in two days per pay period, which is roughly once a week for most people, he said. While workers have been told there will be an increase in required in-office presence, Zamarripa said “we haven’t really received clear guidance on what the future holds.”

The union’s letter said that the EDA “is rapidly approaching a staffing level inconsistent with its current workload” and alleged mismanagement of funds and retention issues were the cause.

“This is not only due to the gross mismanagement of federal monies at the Agency leadership level that resulted in mass layoffs but also due to the Agency leadership’s inability to retain staff,” the union officers said.

Zamarripa said the layoffs mentioned in the letter were announced in September. Citing funding issues, the agency gave some workers three-month notices, told others they would be getting notices in the future, or informed workers that their contract wouldn’t be extended, he said.

Castillo and Page pushed back on the accusation of mismanagement in their statement, contending that “EDA appropriately managed the resources that were provided, leveraging term employees to address an unprecedented surge in work without leaving an unsustainable fiscal burden.” 

In addition to the memorandum of understanding and the mediation services, the union also requested that Castillo attend Labor Management Council meetings until the “quality of dialogue” is to the satisfaction of the union officers. It cited a March executive order from the Biden administration that, among other things, directed agencies to “allow employees and their union representatives to have pre-decisional involvement in workplace matters, including … discussions with management for the development of joint solutions to workplace challenges.” 

“We just want a reset,” Zamarripa said, adding it isn’t clear the information they’re relaying in meetings is getting to the assistant secretary. He said the union wants Castillo to know “what’s actually happening in these meetings and how the labor side of these conversations is perceiving them.”

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“Micky has been a leading expert in our AI work and will provide tremendous expertise and relationships across HHS and externally to guide our efforts in the coming months,” the spokesperson said. “Micky already serves as co-chair of the HHS AI Task Force. He will continue in his role as National Coordinator for Health IT during the search for a permanent Chief AI Officer.”  

Greg Singleton, the previous CAIO, is still part of the agency’s IT workforce, the spokesperson confirmed. But they also noted that the Office of Management and Budget required agencies to designate CAIOs at the executive level in an effort to improve accountability for AI issues. 

HHS didn’t say when the department had named Tripathi as acting CAIO, but the change appears to have been made recently on the agency’s website. Singleton was still listed as CAIO as of at least May 14, per a copy of HHS’s Office of the CAIO webpage archived in the Wayback Machine. According to the webpage at the time of this story, the content was last reviewed on May 24.

Under President Joe Biden’s AI executive order, CAIOs serve as the official in charge of promoting the use of the technology within an agency and managing its risks. The requirement to have such an official went into effect 60 days after OMB’s memo on AI governance, which would have been May 27.

Many agencies moved quickly to designate CAIOs after the order, tapping officials such as chief information, data and technology officers to carry out the role. Other agencies already had a CAIO, including HHS and the Department of Homeland Security. In fact, the position at HHS has been around since 2021 when the agency named Oki Mek as its first CAIO. Singleton replaced Mek as the department’s top AI official in March 2022.

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A total of 95 entities — 31 large businesses and 64 small businesses — received awards under the sequel to the Information Technology Supplies and Support Services contract, also known as ITSSS, the agency said in an update on SAM.gov. The new agreement will serve as the primary vehicle for the agency’s IT services for the next eight years.

The award marks the largest contract vehicle for IT services ever established by the FBI, according to the agency. Investments for the previous ITSSS totaled over $2 billion. 

“ITSSS-2 will provide the FBI with streamlined acquisition procedures and a vetted Vendor Pool to establish call orders more efficiently,” the agency said in the update. 

The FBI also noted that it will establish “a forecasting tool to identify upcoming requirements on a timely basis and to allow ITSSS-2 vendors to appropriately plan their proposals.” The bureau said it will be holding informational meetings with stakeholders in coming weeks.

Efforts to create the vehicle began in December 2021 when the FBI partnered with the General Services Administration on the blanket purchase agreement, according to the agency’s updates SAM.gov. In February 2024, the bureau said it was in the last phase of evaluation but an award wouldn’t be made until bid protest challenges to the contract filed with the Government Accountability Office were resolved. 

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“The more we cut, the more the ideas that are being proposed to NSF in quantum, in AI will not be funded. And guess what; who’s funding them and the people? It is our competitor,” NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan said, in reference to global competitors. 

“This is a national security issue,” he added, “and this is not something that we should take lightly at all. I’m extremely worried.”

Panchanathan’s comments came in response to a question from Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif, ranking member of the Committee on Science, Space and Technology, who asked about the impact that further cuts might have on research priorities on top of the roughly 8% cut the science agency already took in 2024 appropriations.

In response to that same question, Dan Reed, chair emeritus of the National Science Board, called the cuts “devastating.” 

“We’re leaving the future on the table,” Reed said. “And I would add that those cuts potentially are convolved with inflation and so the real spending cuts are actually much larger.”

The hearing before the House Oversight Subcommittee on Research and Technology comes after NSF and other science agencies experienced cuts in the fiscal year 2024 appropriations passed by Congress. 

Notably, those funding levels fell short of what lawmakers previously authorized to carry out the work of the CHIPS and Science Act, which was signed into law in 2022 to boost U.S. production of semiconductors and to support scientific research and development in emerging technology areas.

President Joe Biden’s proposed budget seeks an increase for NSF, bringing its funding from $9.06 billion in the fiscal year 2024 appropriations to $10.18 billion. But even that would still put NSF’s funding below CHIPS Act targets. 

In response to a question from Rep. Scott Franklin, R-Fla., about the research NSF is able to fund, Panchanathan said the agency generally gets more than 40,000 proposals each year and is able to fund a quarter of those on average, but roughly 30-35% of proposals it receives have achieved NSF’s “gold standard” of merit review and could be funded.

Panchanathan said he’s worried about researchers being rejected for insufficient funds when their proposals were ranked high and not continuing to try. “The lost opportunity is not even part of this. If we factor that in, it’s even more than what we’re talking about,” he said.

Rep. Mike Collins, R-Ga., the chairman of the subcommittee, acknowledged the agency’s funding levels in opening remarks, noting that “the NSF’s budgetary constraints, coupled with evolving geopolitical dynamics and shifting research priorities, underscore the importance of our discussion today.”

Similarly, Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., the subcommittee’s ranking member, pointed to the panel’s work on the science portion of the CHIPS and Science Act, which authorized the NSF’s Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships and called for a doubling of NSF’s budget by 2027. 

“We can’t just say that we’re competing against China. We must put our money where our mouth is,” Stevens said.

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While data is limited, the broader AI workforce and pipeline appears to have the same demographic underrepresentation issues that STEM careers experience, lacking diversity in terms of gender, race and ethnicity. And just like the private sector, the government has historically struggled with diversity in STEM roles.

Aware of that landscape, the Biden administration says it’s making efforts to promote diversity in AI hiring, including encouraging agencies to target their outreach for open positions, underscoring the need for “AI-enabling” jobs, and engaging with groups aimed at diversifying technologists. Ultimately, what hangs in the balance of those actions is having a workforce that will bring a variety of experiences and perspectives to the table when managing the application of the booming technology — something the administration, experts, and advocates have stressed.

“If we don’t have a diverse group of people building something that needs to serve a larger group of people, we’re going to do ourselves a disservice, and there’s going to be a lot of unhappy people that can’t benefit from something that should be able to be accessible to all,” said Lisa Mae Brunson, founder of Wonder Women Tech, an organization aimed at helping advance women, people of color, and other underrepresented communities in tech and science fields. 

Already, the federal government is hiring for artificial intelligence positions and seeing interest in open roles. Since President Joe Biden’s October executive order on AI, more than 150 people have been hired in AI and AI-enabling roles, according to a report to the White House by the AI Tech and Talent Task Force. As of March, applications for AI and AI-enabling roles in 2024 have doubled when compared to similar periods in the previous two years, the report said.

That report also underscored the need for diversity, noting that the task force has “prioritized recruiting from a diverse pool of qualified candidates,” consistent with previous Biden executive orders that established the White House Gender Policy Council and outlined actions to promote diversity in federal government hiring.

According to the task force, those efforts recognize “the need for technical experts who can work to mitigate bias in AI systems and the overall underrepresentation of women, people of color, first-generation professionals and immigrants, individuals with disabilities, and LGBTQI+ individuals in the STEM field as a whole.”

Active recruiting 

As AI hiring efforts move forward, officials are stressing the importance of recruitment. 

Kyleigh Russ, a senior adviser to the Office of Personnel Management’s deputy director, told FedScoop the administration is trying to get away from a passive “post and pray” method of hiring — meaning the job gets posted and agencies hope the right person applies. Instead, agencies are encouraged to shift to “active recruiting.” 

Often the volume of applications isn’t the problem for federal government positions, Russ said, but there is a desire to make sure the right people and a diverse group of people are applying.

Active recruiting could mean reaching out to someone on LinkedIn, recruiting directly from minority-serving institutions, or engaging in events like its recent virtual job fair. 

Russ described the push for active recruiting as a “change in practice” and said OPM is working on a training program that will address active recruiting. That program, which it’s collaborating on with the U.S. Digital Service and the Office of Performance and Personnel Management, will be aimed at teaching human resources how to recruit and hire technologists, as it’s a specialized field with “unique challenges,” Russ said. 

During a panel about women in AI last month at Scoop News Group’s AI Talks, USDS Administrator Mina Hsiang pointed to the concept of telling stories about use cases and problems they’re trying to solve as a tool for hiring. 

“Different people want to solve different problems that they see in their communities or in their lives,” Hsiang said. “And so the more that we can connect this to problems that people care about, and show how these are relevant pieces of that, the more people will be motivated to sort of move into those fields.”

Hiring a diverse federal workforce across the government has been an important issue for the Biden administration since its early days. In June 2021, the White House issued an executive order to advance diversity, equity and inclusion in the federal workforce. That order directed agencies to assess the state of diversity, equity and inclusion in their workforces, and took steps to advance things like pay equity. 

AI-enabling

The administration is also highlighting the difference between AI and AI-enabling jobs, which includes roles that are less technical and broadens the pool of candidates. 

Roles that fall into the enabling category include things like data scientists, data analysis, and technical recruiters, Russ said. She noted that the administration has been stressing that it’s looking for both categories of roles in its recruiting campaign and specifically with the recent Tech to Gov job fair. 

That April 18 virtual fair, which is similar to others Tech to Gov has held before, yielded registrations from over 1,300 people representing all 50 states, according to numbers provided by the nonpartisan and nonprofit Tech Talent Project that coordinates the Tech to Gov coalition. The event focused on senior-level technologist roles at the roughly 15 federal agencies and four state agencies that participated. 

Jennifer Anastasoff, executive director of the Tech Talent Project, similarly underscored that both AI and AI-enabling roles are needed. For government hires, Anastasoff said it isn’t required “that every one of the folks who’s inside is someone who has deep expertise in the most technical of technical AI.”

“What we need are folks who can really help make sure that all of our systems — technically, data and otherwise — are really focused on the people who are supposed to be receiving those services,” said Anastasoff, who was a founding member of USDS. 

Anastasoff said the administration’s work with Tech to Gov shows a “level of commitment” to diversity in the technology workforce, as the coalition’s members are interested in that issue. Tech to Gov’s members include organizations like the U.S. Digital Response, Coding it Forward, and AnitaB.org. 

There’s also more work planned with groups trying to diversify tech. Deputy Federal Chief Information Officer Drew Myklegard told FedScoop the administration is planning a hiring push at this year’s Grace Hopper Celebration, a conference for women and non-binary people in technology that’s organized by AnitaB.org.

“It’s 30,000 individuals that come together who are excited, young, extremely diverse,” Myklegard said, “and we think we have a very compelling pitch why they should come and work for the government in AI.”

Additionally, there’s action being taken to support a diverse pipeline of AI professionals outside government. The National Science Foundation, for example, has a program targeted at diversifying the AI research community, including funding research and education at minority-serving institutions. Biden’s AI executive order directed NSF to continue its support of AI-related education and workforce development in an effort to “foster a diverse AI-ready workforce.” 

“We know that the existing research institutions, and some of the other institutions, are building curriculum, but this curriculum has to be everywhere because talent and ideas are anxious to engage, and that’s a deep commitment from NSF,” Sethuraman Panchanathan, the agency’s director, told FedScoop.

Diversity data

The growth of the AI workforce comes as STEM careers more broadly have historically struggled with diversity — both in the private sector and the federal government.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, for example, found that women made up less than 30% of federal STEM jobs in fiscal year 2019. A November 2023 report by the Union of Concerned Scientists found that while the shares of scientists in the federal government grew more racially and ethnically diverse between 2017 and 2022, there were decreases in certain groups and inequities were still present in the STEM workforce at specific agencies. 

When it comes to the federal AI workforce, specifically, there aren’t yet figures. The government, through OPM, is still in the process of getting a head count of federal AI and AI-enabling employees. A recent publication from OPM that describes and defines those AI roles will aid those efforts to get a sense of the workforce within the government. Russ said that will likely include demographic data.

Data on the AI workforce is a challenge outside of government as well. Nestor Maslej, a research manager at Stanford’s Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence who manages the AI Index, said there isn’t as much data on diversity in AI compared to economic or technical performance data, and emphasized the need to address that.

“Although things are getting better, we really would want to kind of create a world in which there is more data — there is much more reporting,” Maslej said. “Because I think data is the first step in actually understanding what’s going on, what the landscape is like, and what kind of changes are required.” 

Stanford’s most recent AI Index report, for example, uses data on computer science graduates to paint a picture of the AI workforce pipeline. That data shows that men represent roughly 3 in 4 bachelor’s, master’s, and PhD computer science graduates in North America. Those students are predominantly white, though Asian graduates also make up a substantial portion in each degree type as well.

If people are able to see that the government has a diverse and representative AI workforce, Maslej said it could generate more confidence from the public in its regulation of that technology.

Looking forward

While the hiring push is still in its early stages, there are some suggestions on how to improve efforts.

Wonder Woman Tech’s Brunson said she’d like to see the administration be more vocal about a commitment to diversity with its AI hires, especially as the tech industry has seen a rollback of some diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

Brunson said she now doesn’t have the resources to be able to tell people looking for jobs where to go, and many people who are interested are trying to teach themselves about AI. “Where is there an opportunity … to train up these diverse candidates so that the future of AI talent looks different than what it looks like today?” Brunson said. 

But there is also optimism that diverse hiring is achievable. Seth Dobrin, founder and CEO of Qantm AI and the author of a forthcoming book on AI strategy, talent and culture, said that while the talent pool of people building AI models isn’t particularly diverse, the pool that the Biden administration will likely hire from is separate from that. He said that in his experience “it’s not as bleak as some of these studies show.” 

Dobrin, who was IBM’s first global chief AI officer, emphasized the importance of intentionally crafting job postings and descriptions so they are more inclusive to diversity. 

“It’s not hiring for a lowest common denominator,” he said. “It’s making sure that you craft your job descriptions appropriately, that you don’t interview until you have a diverse pool of candidates, and then you hire the best person from that pool.”

FedScoop reporter Caroline Nihill contributed to this story.

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The roadmap outlines policy areas the working group believes “merit bipartisan consideration” and summarizes findings from that group’s insight forums held last year with AI leaders from industry, academia and advocacy groups. In addition to boosting AI spending, the report also covers deepfakes, upskilling workers, and fully funding a National AI Research Resource in its priorities.

“We hope this roadmap will stimulate momentum for new and ongoing consideration of bipartisan AI legislation, ensure the United States remains at the forefront of innovation in this technology, and help all Americans benefit from the many opportunities created by AI,” the working group members said in the roadmap.

The Bipartisan Senate AI Working Group is composed of Sens. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., Todd Young, R-Ind., and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. The roadmap comes as legislators in both chambers have explored myriad ways to address the risks and potential of the booming technology but haven’t yet passed broad AI legislation. 

Previewing the announcement last week, Schumer said their approach isn’t to develop one comprehensive plan but rather targeted legislation that addresses specific issues. In a press conference Wednesday, Schumer said the working group’s deliberations were never meant to supplant the work of congressional committees.

“We are very, now, hopeful that the bipartisan momentum that we fostered and the recommendations we made will extend into the committees and their process,” Schumer said. “If anything is going to be accomplished, it has to be bipartisan and it’s going to be done by the committees.”

Schumer also said he plans to meet with House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., “in the very near future to see how we can make this bipartisan effort bicameral.”

Among the recommendations in the roadmap, the working group encouraged the executive branch and the Senate Appropriations Committee to reach “as soon as possible” the $32 billion in annual spending on non-defense AI innovation that was proposed by the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence in its final report. 

That panel, which was made up of people from industry and academia, was tasked with making recommendations to the president and Congress on AI and issued its conclusions in 2021. At the time, their recommended investment would have doubled government research and development spending.

Lawmakers also underscored the need to fund accounts that haven’t reached their full funding potential under the CHIPS and Science Act, “particularly those related to AI.” Among the accounts the lawmakers listed was the National Science Foundation’s Directorate for Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships, which is aimed at boosting U.S. competitiveness in critical and emerging technologies through research.

Additionally, authorizing a full-scale National AI Research Resource was included as a policy priority. The NAIRR, which operates under NSF, is currently in a pilot phase and is providing access to industry and federal tools and data needed for AI research, such as access to supercomputers and generative AI models. Lawmakers and administration officials, however, have stressed the need for legislation to codify and fully fund the resource.

The roadmap was immediately met with praise and criticism Wednesday.

Linda Moore, president and CEO of TechNet, applauded the roadmap’s support for funding, including for the AI Safety Institute and legislation to authorize the NAIRR. TechNet, a network of technology CEOs and senior executives, worked to advocate for the passage of the NAIRR legislation with the bill’s House sponsor, Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., Moore said in a prepared statement. 

By providing funding for those initiatives and others, “Congress will empower a new generation of AI leaders, expand innovation and opportunity beyond Silicon Valley, and keep America at the forefront of scientific development for generations to come,” Moore said.

Meanwhile, Nicole Gill, co-founder and executive director of Accountable Tech, called the roadmap “another proof point of Big Tech’s profound and pervasive power to shape the policymaking process.” Accountable Tech is an organization focused on reining in Big Tech.

Gill called the insight forums a “dream scenario for the tech industry” and alleged that companies “played an outsized role in developing this roadmap and delaying legislation.” She also said the roadmap “is most concrete in offering a roadmap for industry priorities while merely hand-waving toward many of the most pressing challenges associated with the widespread adoption of AI.”

This story was updated May 15, 2024, with comments from Schumer’s press conference Wednesday.

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