The Biden administration says it’s nearly halfway to its goal of bringing 500 artificial intelligence experts into the federal government by the end of the next fiscal year.

The White House, in an update on progress made under President Joe Biden’s AI executive order, said agencies have made over 200 hires to date through its AI “talent surge.”

The administration expects to hire at least 500 AI experts into government by the end of fiscal 2025.

The White House says an AI cohort of the General Services Administration’s Presidential Innovation Fellows program and the Department of Homeland Security’s AI Corps contributed to that governmentwide hiring.

DHS announced last Friday that it has onboarded its first cohort of 15 AI experts from the private and public sectors to serve in its AI Corps.

Among their duties, AI Corps members are working with DHS’ Supply Chain Resilience Center to determine how AI could be used to forecast the impacts of critical supply chain disruptions to public safety and security.

The DHS AI Corps is looking at how generative AI could help the department’s Homeland Security Investigations department combat fentanyl, human trafficking, child exploitation, and other criminal networks.

“The AI Corps is one of the most significant AI-talent recruitment efforts of any federal civilian agency, aiming to hire 50 AI experts to enhance service delivery and impact the homeland security mission while safeguarding privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties,” DHS wrote in its press release.

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy earlier this month outlined plans to spend $100 million to train new AI experts and bring a steady pipeline of them into government service.

The Defense Department, for example, is working with the Office of Management and Budget and OSTP to launch its Trusted Advisors Pilot — a pool of STEM and AI experts that agencies can tap into to support implementation of the Biden’s AI executive order and related administration priorities.

Several agencies joined a “Tech to Gov” job fair in April to recruit AI and emerging tech experts to consider a stint — if not a career — in federal service.

“We need your talent. We need your innovative ideas. Whether it’s AI automation that simplifies repetitive tasks and processes, better design and security, or better integration with legacy systems, we need folks just like you to make sure government efficiently delivers for our people,” GSA Administrator Robin Carnahan said on April 18 during the virtual job fair. “There is not a better place to work than in government because we have hard problems — problems that challenge us to serve every American. And when we do, the impact is profound.”

The White House says agencies completed all their 270-day deadlines in the Biden administration’s sweeping AI executive order.

Among these goals, the Chief Data Officers Council developed initial guidelines for federal agencies to uphold the government’s mandate for transparency in data while protecting against the potential misuse of such data to harm national security through the training of AI systems.

The Justice Department also evaluated best practices for federal law enforcement agencies to hire professionals with technical skills and train professionals in the responsible use of AI.

DOD and DHS also reported findings from AI pilots to address vulnerabilities in government networks.

The White House, in a fact sheet posted last Friday, said “agencies all across government have acted boldly” to implement the Biden administration’s executive order.

“They have taken steps to mitigate AI’s safety and security risks, protect Americans’ privacy, advance equity and civil rights, stand up for consumers and workers, promote innovation and competition, advance American leadership around the world, and more.”

Agencies tapping chief AI officers

Among their personnel decisions,  agencies are also naming chief AI officers to lead these efforts.

AI.gov late last month added the names of 57 chief AI officers (CAIOs) across the federal government.

David Mathison, founder of the first Chief AI Officer Summit last year, said many others are already C-suite agency executives who have been dual-hatted into the role — and that five of them are serving in an acting capacity.

“A lot of them are a dual-hat CIO and CAIO. Some of them are a CDO and CAIO,” Mathison said. “Overall, there are agencies that are doing incredible things with AI already. And there are others that are a little bit further behind. And in some ways, it seems like more of a bureaucratic role, to make sure they’re adhering to the other points in the executive order.”

Mathison said agency CAIOs, mostly importantly, will help serve as liaisons to other agencies and coordinate cross-government AI projects.

“They need to organize and coordinate with each other, and it seems like getting that stuff set is really smart. Work together cross-agency — and not all of that really requires a lot of technical chops. And, so, I think just getting the organization set up first is a smart move, and then bring in people with the technical chops — either underneath them or to replace them.”

Among all the federal government’s AI hiring efforts, Mathison said agencies may have the hardest time hiring and retaining AI executives.

Mathison has been tracking a worldwide list of about a thousand CAIO positions in government and the private sector — but that list has since narrowed to about 500 individuals.

“The biggest challenge is the demand is through the roof,” Mathison said. “So if there are only 500 CAIOs on earth, and they make between $600,000 and $1.2 million in the U.S. at tech companies and financial service companies … federal agencies are priced out of the market. That’s the challenge — how do you bring in somebody that’s highly qualified when there’s so much demand?”

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