- The Biden administration is ramping up AI staff across the government.
- Kamala Harris announced that all federal agencies are now required to hire a lead AI specialist.
- Government agencies must prove that their AI tools do not harm the public or stop using AI.
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The Biden administration announced Thursday that it will expand its AI workforce across all federal agencies, aiming to hire 100 AI experts by the summer.
And all federal agencies must hire a lead AI expert to oversee the ethical and transparent use of AI, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) said in a statement.
Vice President Kamala Harris said at a press conference, “We understand that we need to have senior leadership across the government specifically tasked with overseeing the adoption and use of AI, and we want to ensure that AI is used responsibly.” This is to ensure that the
In addition to hiring AI officers, agencies will need to create AI governance committees, similar to those already in place at the Department of Defense, Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Housing and Urban Development, and Department of State, according to OMB.
According to a memo from the U.S. Patent Office, the new AI role offers several significant benefits to employees, including incentives of up to 25% of base salary (plus an amount multiplied by the number of years of the service contract) for relocation, recruitment, and retention. They say they will provide it. Human Resource Management.
The agency is also encouraging agencies to offer flexible work schedules and remote work options to those in critical AI roles.
Base salaries for certain IT specialists working with AI can top out at more than $143,000, according to job openings posted on government job sites.
Under the new order, government agencies must also prove that their use of AI will not harm the public, and if they cannot do so, they must immediately stop using AI tools.
For example, Harris said, “If the Veterans Administration wants to use AI in VA hospitals to help doctors diagnose patients, it must first prove that the AI does not produce racially biased diagnoses.'' ” he explained.
The new policy also sets out a number of guidelines that federal agencies must adopt by the end of the year, including issuing an annual inventory of their use of AI and identifying the government-owned AI code they are using. This includes making it public and ensuring all human oversight. AI tools.
Expanding the government's AI workforce is the latest part of Biden's AI plan, which began with an executive order in October establishing transparency policies around the hot-button technology.