President Joe Biden signs the executive order on AI in October 2023. A recent oversight report found that federal agencies have met initial management and talent benchmarks to support wider adoption of AI. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Agencies have met all AI mandates for management and talent, watchdog says
The Government Accountability Office said agencies’ compliance with 13 key AI benchmarks in the 2023 executive order “is likely to increase AI expertise in high-priority areas quickly and more efficiently.”
Federal agencies have fully met the Biden administration’s initial management and talent benchmarks for the broader adoption of artificial intelligence technologies across government, according to a watchdog review released on Monday.
The report from the Government Accountability Office looked at agency compliance with 13 specific requirements from President Joe Biden’s October 2023 executive order on AI, which outlined governmentwide safeguards around use of the new technology. Agencies were expected to implement the examined mandates by the end of March 2024.
GAO said it reviewed requirements from the executive order that tasked agencies with providing guidance on AI management, working to increase the government’s AI workforce and coordinating implementation of AI-related policies.
Six agencies were tasked with implementing these specific directives: the Executive Office of the President; Office of Management and Budget; Office of Personnel Management; Office of Science and Technology Policy; General Services Administration; and the U.S. Digital Service.
“Federal agencies have taken actions to implement the selected management and talent requirements outlined in [the executive order] that were due by the end of March 2024,” GAO said, noting that all six agencies “fully implemented” the 13 requirements that they were collectively tasked with fulfilling.
OMB, in particular, was charged by Biden with issuing AI guidance to agencies. The office subsequently released a governmentwide memo in March 2024, which included a directive for agencies to designate a chief AI officer to oversee adoption of the emerging technologies across their operations.
OSTP and OMB were also tasked with identifying ways of enhancing AI talent across the government. GAO said both entities “identified priority mission areas for increased AI talent, established the types of talent that are the highest priority to recruit and develop and identified accelerated hiring pathways.”
The report also said that USDS successfully worked with OSTP to establish a hiring page on the government’s AI website that went live in October 2023 and has routed approximately 2,300 job applications to relevant entities, as of this February. OMB officials told the watchdog that it has hired “over 150 professionals into AI and AI-enabling roles” since Biden’s order was issued.
“Since these agencies and talent programs developed and implemented plans for AI talent recruitment, the government is likely to increase AI expertise in high-priority areas quickly and more efficiently,” GAO said.
The watchdog’s report comes after the White House announced in January that agencies had met all of the executive order’s initial 90-day requirements.