Illustration: Natalie Peeples/Axios
Across the federal government, agencies now have chief AI officers to help deploy the technology responsibly.
Why it matters: AI officers are helping agencies fulfill many new tasks from President Biden's expansive AI executive order.
- CAIOs hold the primary responsibility in their agency for all things AI, including promoting innovative uses of the technology and managing its risks.
Driving the news: Officers had to be appointed by Monday, and several agencies met that deadline well in advance.
- "Chief AI officers have been named for the 24 CFO Act agencies, as well as dozens of smaller agencies," OMB spokesperson Christina Wilkes told Axios in an email.
- OMB noted in its guidance that agencies could choose to designate an existing executive, like their chief technology officer or chief information officer, to be their CAIO.
We spoke with a few of them to check in on the progress made and challenges ahead.
The National Science Foundation has dual responsibilities to integrate AI into its own operations and carry out external mandates, awarding grants to support research at universities and institutions across the country.
- CAIO Dorothy Aronson, who's focused on internal operations, said in an interview that the biggest challenge so far has been finding the right people with the skills and expertise needed in areas of data, privacy, law and technology.
- Tess deBlanc-Knowles, special assistant to the director for artificial intelligence and a former OSTP official, is focused on outward operations for NSF.
- Launching the NAIRR pilot and regional innovation awards, with seven of 10 focusing on AI, has been a highlight, said deBlanc-Knowles, while the biggest challenge is meeting the need for AI education and workforce development across the U.S.
The Department of Homeland Security's Eric Hysen has served as DHS CIO since the start of the Biden administration and as its chief AI officer since September. DHS is using AI both to change internal processes and shake up its work with partner agencies.
- Hysen said he's spending more than half his time on AI-related work.
- DHS has been using predictive AI and machine learning for many years and is now accelerating some major efforts, he said.
- Generative AI pilots at DHS include one with FEMA on resilience plans, one with USCIS on training officers and one with Homeland Security Investigations on connecting details from case files, he said.
The Biden AI EO gives DHS tons of new tasks, Hysen said.
- "It's forcing us to ask really new and different questions about how technology is used across the department in ways that add a lot of workload … but are incredibly important for us to be doing, and doing right," he said.
- Hysen said balancing people's civil liberties with homeland security initiatives is a priority: "People interact with DHS at some of the most significant moments in their lives, and we believe we can improve those and keep the country safe through using AI."
- But if DHS employs AI in any way that sparks concerns among the public, "we [may] lose our permission to be able to use those technologies," he said.
What's next: By the end of March 2025, CAIOs must develop and post on their agency's websites an AI strategy that includes details on workforce needs and planned uses of the tech.
