Scoop: Ted Cruz probes tech money funding Biden AI staff
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) at a news conference in May. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has asked agencies for more information about whether the Biden administration relied on technology moguls and their money to help craft their Artificial Intelligence policies, according to letters obtained by Axios.
Why it matters: President Biden's team moved fast to react to the explosion of AI with an executive order last October. Now there's growing scrutiny on those trying to influence that work.
- Tech executives previously helped fund dozens of science jobs in the Biden administration through an obscure program called the Intergovernmental Personnel Act (IPA) that lets outside entities pay the salaries for some executive branch officials.
- Cruz's investigation is the latest instance of government officials raising concerns about the transparency of the law.
Driving the news: Cruz, the top Republican on the Senate Commerce Committee, sent letters requesting information from the Commerce Department, the National Science Foundation, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Transportation Department.
- In April, the White House boasted that the administration had completed more than 100 actions related by Biden''s AI-focused executive order focused on "seizing the promise and managing the risks of artificial intelligence."
- Cruz asked the agencies to share any information about any employees brought on through the IPA to help implement the executive order.
Cruz wrote to the agencies that to finish all the actions of the executive order, "agencies would have had to . . . bring on AI fellows by recruiting temporary—but influential—AI staff from external organizations through the Intergovernmental Personnel Act (IPA) program."
- He added that as "federal agencies request increased funding for AI hiring, it is important Congress understand the extent to which, and how, agencies have already acquired AI staff in response to the expansive and demanding AI Executive Order."
Zoom out: Government watchdogs have praised the IPA program for giving the executive branch flexibility but have warned it lacks transparency.
- The Government Accountability Office wrote to Congress in 2022 that there are "advantages" to the program, but the Office of Personnel Management "does not have complete and accurate data needed to track mobility program use. Thus, OPM does not know how often the program is being used across the federal government."
- Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt has been heavily involved in the Biden administration's AI policies and has leveraged the IPA program to fund personnel in science offices.
What's next: Cruz gave the agencies until July 15 to respond with information.
- If Republicans retake the Senate this November, this could be the beginning of a lengthy investigation.
