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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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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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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Before the policy, agencies and their contracting officials were limited to only data from their respective agencies, hampering data-driven decisions, according to a White House fact sheet. But the finalized circular (A-137) establishes that acquisition data is an asset to be used across the government and instructs agencies to be prepared to collect and share that information. 

The policy “marks a paradigm shift in the government’s acquisition data management practices,” the fact sheet said.  

Jason Miller, the deputy director for management in the Office of Management and Budget that houses OFPP, told reporters at a Tuesday roundtable the circular makes acquisition information a “government asset” rather than an agency asset.

“It’s just a huge step in us unlocking the business intelligence that allows those 40,000 contracting officials to operate smarter, better — both on delivering on mission and addressing costs and requirements in ways that result in better outcomes,” Miller said.

Christine Harada, senior adviser who leads the OFPP team in the absence of a Senate-confirmed director, told reporters the guidance changed slightly since a draft version was released for public comment last year. The final version incorporates other work the office has done on data and data-related strategies.

Harada also noted that the administration has created a tool called the Procurement Co-Pilot that “demonstrates the value and the power of having such an enterprise-wide access, and we’ve been rolling that out with our acquisition workforce.”

Better contracting

The data circular is one of the four elements of the Biden administration’s Better Contracting Initiative to improve efficiency and save money on federal spending. The others focus on enterprise-wide software license negotiation, improving contract requirements, and getting more value from sole source and high-risk contracts.

Those other elements of that initiative are also moving forward. On improving negotiation for enterprise-wide software, Miller said the administration has already taken the first step by bringing together agencies that are big buyers of those products to navigate where they have common requirements. He said he’s hopeful that the administration will have more to share on that progress “very soon.” 

Under that prong of the Better Contracting Initiative, the General Services Administration will “lead a government-wide IT software license agreement with a large software provider.”

Harada said in the workshop process, all 24 Chief Financial Officers Act agencies agreed on over 80% of the requirements, and the remaining ones can be tailored agency-by-agency. “There’s been a lot of really good buy-in from the agencies on this,” Harada said.

The Tuesday announcement came as OFPP marked half a century as an office. Harada and Miller remarked on the accomplishments of the office since then.

“When we were first established, the acquisition workforce had no training — no training whatsoever,” Harada said, noting they’ve since made progress on “investing in the acquisition workforce.” 

She also highlighted the establishment of things like the Chief Acquisition Officers Council and the Interagency Suspension and Debarment Committee, adding that the theme of the past 50 years has been the government getting “more organized and buying as one.”

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The projects range from research into language model safety and synthetic data generation for privacy, to developing a model for aquatic sciences and using AI for identifying agricultural pests, according to a release from the NSF. Of those projects, 27 will be supported on NSF-funded advanced computing systems and eight projects will have access to those supported by DOE, including the Summit supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

“You will see among these 35 projects’ unbelievable span in terms of geography, in terms of ideas, core ideas, as well as application interests,” NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan said at a White House event. 

The NAIRR, which launched earlier this year in pilot form as part of President Joe Biden’s executive order on AI, is aimed at providing researchers with the resources needed to carry out their work on AI by providing access to advanced computing, data, software, and AI models.

The pilot is composed of contributions from multiple federal agencies and private sector partners, including Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, NVIDIA, Intel, and IBM. Those contributions include access to supercomputers; datasets from NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; and access to models from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Meta.

In addition to the project awards, NSF also announced the NAIRR pilot has opened the next opportunity to apply for access to research resources, including cloud computing platforms and access to foundation models, according to the release. That includes resources from nongovernmental partners and NSF-supported platforms.

Panchanathan described the appetite for the resource as “pretty strong,” noting that 50 projects have been reviewed as positive. But he said there aren’t yet resources to scale those 50 projects. “There is so much need, and so we need more resources to be brought to the table,” Panchanathan said.

While the pilot continues, there are also bipartisan efforts in Congress to codify and fully fund a full-scale NAIRR. Panchanathan and Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Arati Prabhakar underscored the need for that legislation Monday.

“Fully establishing NAIRR is going to take significant funding, and we’re happy to see that Congress has initiated action,” Prabhaker said, adding that the White House is hopeful “that full funding will be achieved.”

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Federal CIO Clare Martorana has “imbued” the idea of “iterative policy” within administration officials, Myklegard said in an interview Thursday with FedScoop at Scoop News Group’s AITalks. “We’re not going to get it right the first time.” 

As the inventories, which were established under a Trump-era executive order, enter the third year of collection, Myklegard said agencies have a better idea of what they’re buying, and communication — as well as the skills for collecting and sorting the data — are improving. 

On the same day OMB released its recent memo outlining a governance strategy for artificial intelligence in the federal government, it also released new, expansive draft guidance for agencies’ 2024 AI use case inventories. 

Those inventories have, in the past, suffered from inconsistencies and even errors. While they’re required to be published publicly and annually by certain agencies, the disclosures have varied widely in terms of things like the type of information contained, format, and collection method.

Now, the Biden administration is seeking to change that. Under the draft, information about each use case would be now collected via a form and agencies would be required to post a “machine-readable” comma-separated value (CSV) format inventory of the public uses to their website, in addition to other changes. The White House is currently soliciting feedback on that draft guidance, though a deadline for those comments isn’t clear.

In the meantime, agencies are getting to work on a host of other requirements OMB outlined in the new AI governance memo. According to Myklegard, the volume of comments was the highest the administration had seen on an OMB memo.

“We were really surprised. It’s the most comments we’ve received from any memo that we’ve put out,” Myklegard said during remarks on stage at AI Talks. He added that “between those we really feel like we were able to hear you.”

The memo received roughly 196 public comments, according to Regulations.gov. The same number for OMB’s previous guidance on the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) process, for example, was 161.

Among the changes in the final version of that memo were several public disclosure requirements, including requiring civilian agencies and the Defense Department to report aggregate metrics about AI uses not published in an inventory, and requiring agencies to report information about the new determinations and waivers they can issue for uses that are assumed to be rights- and safety-impacting under the memo. 

Myklegard told FedScoop those changes are an example of the iterative process that OMB is trying to take. When OMB seeks public input on memos, which Myklegard said hasn’t happened often in the past, “we realize areas in our memos that we either missed and need to address, or need to clarify more, and that was just this case.”

Another addition to the memo was encouragement for agencies to name an “AI Talent Lead.” That individual will serve “for at least the duration of the AI Talent Task Force” and be responsible for tracking AI hiring in their agency, providing data to the Office of Personnel Management and OMB, and reporting to agency leadership, according to the memo.

In response to a question about how that role came about, Myklegard pointed to the White House chief of staff’s desire to look for talent internally and the U.S. Digital Service’s leadership on that effort.

“It just got to a point that we felt we needed to formalize and … give agencies the ability to put that position out,” Myklegard said. The administration hopes “there’s downstream effects” of things like shared position descriptions (PDs), he added.

He specifically pointed to the Department of Homeland Security’s hiring efforts as an example of what the administration would like to see governmentwide. CIO Eric Hysen has already hired multiple people with “good AI-specific skillsets” from the commercial sector, which is typically “unheard of” in government, he said.

In February, DHS launched a unique effort to hire 50 AI and machine learning experts and establish an AI Corps. The Biden administration has since said it plans to hire 100 AI professionals across the government by this summer. 

“We’re hoping that every agency can look to what Eric and his team did around hiring and adopt those same skills and best practices, because frankly, it’s really hard,” Myklegard said. 

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Ahuja, who is the longest-serving OPM director in more than 10 years, will depart her role in coming weeks, according to an agency release Tuesday. Ahuja was confirmed by the Senate in June 2021 and became both the first South Asian American and first Asian American woman to lead OPM. 

“From my time as a civil rights lawyer in the Department of Justice, to my years as OPM’s Chief of Staff, I’ve seen the power that public service has to change lives, rebuild communities, and make our nation stronger,” Ahuja said in a statement. “We have accomplished so much these last three years at OPM, but I am most proud of the friendships and bonds we built together in public service.” 

During her time leading OPM, Ahuja oversaw the administration’s efforts to implement a $15 minimum wage for federal workers, prohibit use of non-federal salary history in pay-setting for federal jobs, implement a new data strategy plan, and bolster the federal government’s tech workforce, among other things.

As part of the Biden administration’s AI efforts, Ahuja is a member of the AI and Tech Talent Task Force, which was created to support hiring efforts related to the president’s executive order on the technology. Related to that same order, OPM has also authorized direct hire authority for AI-related positions and outlined incentives for attracting and retaining AI workers in the federal government.

Prior to serving as OPM’s director, Ahuja was the agency’s chief of staff from 2015 to 2017. She also served in other federal government roles, including as executive director of the White House Initiative of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders during the Obama administration and as an attorney at the Justice Department.

“Under Kiran’s leadership, OPM has bounced back stronger than ever and partnered with agencies across government to better serve the American people,” Rob Shriver, deputy director of OPM said in a statement. “Kiran represents the very best of the Biden-Harris Administration, and I am honored to call her a dear colleague and friend.”

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Under a memorandum of understanding signed by Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and U.K. Technology Secretary Michelle Donelan, both countries will work “to align their scientific approaches” and “accelerate and rapidly iterate robust suites of evaluations for AI models, systems, and agents,” according to a release from the Department of Commerce. The agreement is effective immediately.

“Our partnership makes clear that we aren’t running away from these concerns – we’re running at them,” Raimondo said in a statement. “Because of our collaboration, our Institutes will gain a better understanding of AI systems, conduct more robust evaluations, and issue more rigorous guidance.”

The announcement comes as the Biden administration has emphasized its desire to work with other countries on AI. The administration’s October executive order on the technology, for example, directed the Department of Commerce to establish international AI frameworks.  

AI safety institutes from both countries have plans to create “a common approach to AI safety testing.” They also plan to conduct “at least one joint testing exercise on a publicly accessible model” and “tap into a collective pool of expertise by exploring personnel exchanges between the Institutes,” according to the release. 

The Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology houses the AI Safety Institute in the U.S. That body got its leadership and launched a consortium with participation from over 200 stakeholders in February. 

Partnering with the U.K. likely isn’t the end of the collaboration. According to Commerce’s announcement, the two countries “have also committed to develop similar partnerships with other countries to promote AI safety across the globe.”

“We have always been clear that ensuring the safe development of AI is a shared global issue,” the U.K.’s Donelan said. “Only by working together can we address the technology’s risks head on and harness its enormous potential to help us all live easier and healthier lives.”

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The policy, released Thursday, corresponds with President Joe Biden’s October executive order on AI and establishes a framework for federal agency use and management of the technology. Among the requirements, agencies must now vet their AI uses for risks, expand what they share in their annual AI use case inventories, and select a chief AI officer.

While the final version largely tracks with the draft version that OMB published for public comment in November, there were some notable changes. Here are six of the most interesting alterations and additions to the policy: 

1. Added compliance time: The new policy changes the deadline for agencies to be in compliance with risk management practices from Aug. 1 to Dec. 1, giving agencies four more months than the draft version. The requirement states that agencies must implement risk management practices or stop using safety- or rights-impacting AI tools until the agency is in compliance. 

In a document published Thursday responding to comments on the draft policy, OMB said it received feedback that the August deadline was “too aggressive” and that timeline didn’t account for action OMB is expected to take later this year on AI acquisition. 

2. Sharing code, data: The final memo adds an entirely new section requiring agencies to share custom-developed AI code model information on an ongoing basis. Agencies must “release and maintain that code as open source software on a public repository” under the memo, unless sharing it would pose certain risks or it’s restricted by law, regulation, or contract.

Additionally, the memo states that agencies must share and release data used to test AI if it’s considered a “data asset” under the Open, Public, Electronic and Necessary (OPEN) Government Data Act, a federal law that requires such information to be published in a machine-readable format.

Agencies are required to share whatever information possible, even if a portion of the information can’t be released publicly. The policy further states that agencies should, where they’re able, share resources that can’t be released without restrictions through federally operated means that allow controlled access, like the National AI Research Resource (NAIRR).

3. AI Talent Lead: The policy also states agencies should designate an “AI Talent Lead,” which didn’t appear in the draft. That official, “for at least the duration of the AI Talent Task Force, will be accountable for reporting to agency leadership, tracking AI hiring across the agency, and providing data to [the Office of Personnel Management] and OMB on hiring needs and progress,” the memo says. 

The task force, which was established under Biden’s AI executive order, will provide that official with “engagement opportunities to enhance their AI hiring practices and to drive impact through collaboration across agencies.” The memo also stipulates that agencies must follow hiring practices in OPM’s forthcoming AI and Tech Hiring Playbook.

Biden’s order placed an emphasis on AI hiring in the federal government, and so far OPM has authorized direct-hire authority for AI roles and outlined incentives for attracting and retaining AI talent. 

4. Aggregate metrics: Agencies and the Department of Defense will both have to “report and release aggregate metrics” for AI uses that aren’t included in their public inventory of use cases under the new memo. The draft version included only the DOD in that requirement, but the version released Thursday added federal agencies.

Those disclosures, which will be annual, will provide information about how many of the uses are rights- and safety-impacting and their compliance with the standards for those kinds of uses outlined in the memo. 

The use case inventories, which were established by a Trump-era executive order and later enshrined into federal statute, have so far lacked consistency across agencies. The memo and corresponding draft guidance for the 2024 inventories seeks to enhance and expand those reporting requirements.

5. Safety, rights determinations: The memo also added a new requirement that agencies have to validate the determinations and waivers that CAIOs make on safety- and rights-impacting use cases, and publish a summary of those decisions on an annual basis. 

Under the policy, CAIOs can determine that an AI application presumed to be safety- or rights-impacting — which includes a wide array of uses such as election security and conducting biometric identification — doesn’t match the memo’s definitions for what should be considered safety- or rights-impacting. CAIOs may also waive certain requirements for those uses.

While the draft stipulated that agencies should report lists of rights- and safety-impacting uses to OMB, the final memo instead requires the annual validation of those determinations and waivers and public summaries.

In its response to comments, OMB said it made the update to address concerns from some commenters that CAIOs “would hold too much discretion to waive the applicability of risk management requirements to particular AI uses cases.” 

6. Procurement considerations: Three procurement recommendations related to test data, biometric identification, and sustainability were also added to the final memo. 

On testing data, OMB recommends agencies ensure developers and vendors aren’t using test data that an agency might employ to evaluate an AI system to train that system. For biometrics, the memo also encourages agencies to assess risks and request documentation on accuracy when procuring AI systems that use identifiers such as faces and fingerprints. 

And finally on sustainability, the memo includes a recommendation that agencies consider the environmental impact of “computationally intensive” AI systems. “This should include considering the carbon emissions and resource consumption from supporting data centers,” the memo said. That addition was a response to commenters who wanted the memo to expand risk assessment requirements to include environmental considerations, according to OMB.

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