GAO Reports on Agency AI Compliance

Given the transformative nature as well as risk surrounding artificial intelligence (AI) at agencies, it’s no surprise that the GAO released an assessment of federal implementation of the technology. In a report published this week titled, Agencies Have Begun Implementation but Need to Complete Key Requirements, the government watchdog examines agency fulfillment of AI-centric requirements.

Specifically, the report details the status of agency AI use case inventories and compliance against existing laws, policies, and procedures on AI adoption. The report includes information on 23 CFO-Act civilian agencies, OMB, OSTP and OPM, and excludes the Department of Defense.

The areas agencies are lacking in fulfilling AI requirements is a good indication of what to expect in future federal AI implementation.

Agency AI Use Case Inventories

The GAO examined 1,200 AI use cases reported by 20 agencies in FY 2022, with applications ranging from space, agriculture, and science to internal management. The GAO found that nearly half of the reported cases remained in planning stages, with only 228 cases moving to production after 1-2 years. The GAO also found that most agencies’ AI inventories were not fully comprehensive nor accurate.

“Maintaining complete and accurate inventories of these uses is essential to understanding the government’s expected and ongoing AI investments and the resulting potential improvements and risks,” according to the report.

Given the importance of the use case inventories, the GAO made specific recommendations to each agency to improve AI use case inventories. Contractors interested in a particular agency’s AI use case assessment and status should refer to the recommendations section of the report.

Cross-Agency AI Compliance

Of most interest, however, is the GAO’s examination of agencies such as OMB, OSTP and OPM, which are tasked with leading government-wide AI actions and guidance. The GAO compared requirements in the following federal laws and policies to measure compliance: executive orders (EOs) 13859, Maintaining American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence and 13960, Promoting the Use of Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence in the Federal Government, as well as the AI In Government Act of 2020 passed under the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021.

Findings among those agencies that lacked requirement completion included:

• OMB partially issued guidance to agencies for the acquisition and use of AI per the AI in Government Act of 2020
• OPM did not complete requirements to establish an AI occupational series, or update or improve an existing occupational series for AI-related positions
• OPM has not prepared 2-year or 5-year forecasts of the number of AI-related federal positions
• OPM did not create a federal rotational programs inventory or determined, through a report with recommendations, how the program can be used to expand the number of federal employees with AI expertise
• OSTP did not establish or document a list of agencies responsible for AI action, including those that should respond to future AI guidance

Crystal Ball into Future AI Actions

Given these findings, coupled with requirements from the recent AI EO, agencies such as OMB, OPM and OSTP are likely to act upon the GAO’s recommendations to complete key requirements of legislation and guidance in the coming year, resulting in additional cross-government activities for AI advancement.  

For example, the GAO recommends that the director of OMB issue guidance to agencies to inform policy development related to acquisition and the use of AI technologies, identify responsible AI officials, recommend approaches to remove barriers to AI use, and identify best practices to mitigate discriminatory impacts of AI. OMB informed the GAO that the finalized version of the draft memorandum issued in November 2023 will inform future policies on the use of AI.

At OPM, though the agency has completed identification of key skills and competencies for AI-related positions, the GAO recommends OPM act on a federal occupational series for AI-related positions, prepare forecasts for the number of federal employees in those types of positions, and ensure the expansion of the number of employees with AI expertise. According to the GAO report, OPM plans to share a report in the coming weeks with recommendations on how the federal rotational programs inventory can be used to expand the number of positions with AI expertise.

At OSTP, the GAO recommends the office communicate a list of federal agencies that are required to implement the Regulation of AI Applications memorandum and report a status as implementing agencies with regulatory authorities over AI. Given the GAO’s recommendations, it is expected that OSTP will take an increased role in the oversight of AI efforts.