GSA Blog

Artificial Intelligence delivers real results through GSA

At GSA, we recognize Americans are using AI more than ever. Just as earlier technologies helped us evolve, we’re embracing the promise of AI tools in a way that meets the speed of need. This speedy adoption allows us to collaborate and share lessons learned across the federal government agencies that are eager to use AI.

GSA was one of the first federal agencies to pilot the use of email more than 20 years ago. Embracing our early adopter role, we were one of the first federal agencies to release an AI policy for our employees about using public large language model tools. We’ve continued to build on this policy, learning how our employees have used these tools through an agency pilot, which we’re now expanding.

“One of the things I’m most proud of in my role as Chief AI Officer and data officer is how GSA’s data-driven approach has set a precedent for other federal agencies and fosters public trust in AI applications within government,” said Zach Whitman. “We really started from the ground up to ensure we had vast and equitable data, to develop an enterprise wide platform designed to support our researchers, analysts and production needs. Good data means better AI.”

Some other ways we have supported the effective, responsible use of AI in the past year:

• Sharing strategic tools and infrastructure support to rapidly discover use cases, identify applicable AI methods, and deploy scalable solutions across the enterprise and through our AI Center of Excellence. The AI CoE has also created the AI Guide for Government to help government decision-makers learn how to invest in and build AI capabilities.
• Providing a network for government employees engaged in or interested in AI through our AI Community of Practice. Membership is open to all government employees and mission-supporting contractors with a .gov or.mil email address.
• Helping the federal acquisition workforce navigate the complexities of acquiring Generative AI technologies, described in our  Generative AI and Specialized Computing Infrastructure Acquisition Resource Guide.
• Leading the AI Hiring Surge, which has successfully recruited record numbers of AI-specific talent to the federal workforce.

“Our goal with AI has always been to do what is necessary to decrease the time to experiment, reduce the organizational overheads so that ideas can be tested out quickly, and always have a next step available,” said Whitman. “GSA has consistently been a federal leader in implementing emerging technologies. Our innovative, and effective use of AI technologies simply showcases that same deliberate, thoughtful approach to adopting and implementing these new tools.”