A Call to Service for AI Talent in the Federal Government
By Principal Deputy U.S. Chief Technology Officer Deirdre K. Mulligan and U.S. Digital Service Administrator Mina Hsiang
As President Biden said, “To realize the promise of AI and avoid the risks, we need to govern this technology.” Last October, President Biden signed the landmark Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence. This Executive Order lays out an ambitious agenda for the United States to meet this moment on AI. It directs federal agencies to establish new standards for AI safety and security, protect Americans’ privacy, and advance equity and civil rights—while also committing to harness AI for the public good.
We need your help to accomplish these ambitious and essential goals.
That’s why President Biden’s Executive Order establishes a National AI Talent Surge. The Biden-Harris Administration is hiring dedicated people who want to help us leverage AI responsibly to improve government services, make smart policies and regulations around AI to protect people’s rights, safety, and privacy, and build our research and development (R&D), so the United States continues to lead the world in cutting-edge AI innovation.
Thoughtful and safe use of AI can help the government tackle global challenges and better serve the American people.
The federal government has a large range of critical missions—no other organization in the nation is an insurance provider, disaster response team, food and drug inspector, financial institution, and environmental monitor all in one. Designed responsibly and used appropriately, AI can assist in better accomplishing agencies’ missions – and better deliver services for the public.
The U.S. Government is already using AI to benefit the public across its vast mission areas to include tackling global challenges such as climate change and cancer, and improving the quality and efficiency of government services. AI can help process applications for disability benefits more effectively, so the public can access the services they need as quickly as possible. AI can help predict critical air safety equipment failures, so that we can perform proactive maintenance and get passengers to their destinations safer and faster. AI can unlock a deeper understanding of our natural world so that we can decide how best to protect and preserve it.
The United States leads the world in AI innovation and R&D, and we are committed to maintaining that global leadership.
President Biden has said that we will see more technological innovation and progress in the next ten years than we’ve seen in the past 50. We’ve witnessed remarkable leaps in AI capabilities in the past few years alone. As AI technology continues to advance, we are investing in the critical research necessary to ensure its efficacy, safety, and trustworthiness. The Biden-Harris Administration is leading the way by developing standards for testing and red-teaming to establish benchmarks for powerful AI models. We are funding groundbreaking research to promote ethical and trustworthy AI through our National AI Research Institutes. And we just launched a pilot for the National AI Research Resource, which provides data and compute infrastructure for researchers to enable AI research across a broad community.
We are calling on AI and AI-enabling experts to join us to advance this research and ensure the next generation of AI models is safe, secure, and trustworthy.
Effective AI regulation and policy development requires technical expertise.
As we look toward the future of AI, we also need to be laser-focused on promoting the effective, equitable and rights-respecting use of AI in the present. We are committed to addressing and preventing harms that may arise from use of AI—such as algorithmic discrimination in healthcare, the distribution of harmful deepfake intimate images, and wrongful arrests prompted by imperfect facial recognition technologies.
To accomplish this, the Federal Government must understand AI models’ assumptions and underlying data, as well as how these models work in different contexts for different people. For example, software engineers, designers, and AI professionals provide valuable expertise to regulators who need to ensure that algorithmic tools do not introduce unfair bias into hiring processes. Federal agencies must have technical experts working side-by-side with policymakers and lawyers to effectively regulate these new technologies.
The time to join is now.
Our ability to meet this moment depends on you. If you want to work on important and challenging problems, join us. Here, your work can truly make a difference for the public and help forge a future where AI is a force for good that improves the lives of everyone.
There are a wide variety of roles from temporary and long term, early career and highly specialized, technical and non-technical available all over the country.
Learn more about how to join us at ai.gov/apply.
