Last week, the US White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released a pair of memos to provide federal agencies guidance on AI adoption and procurement, as reported by FedScoop.
The first memo sets guardrails for AI use, stating that agencies are to focus on three key priorities: innovation, governance, and public trust. It maintains a number of key provisions from the Biden administration memo it replaces, including the establishment of Chief AI Officers (CAIOs) in government agencies, a council through which those CAIOs can coordinate, and a process for managing riskier, "high-impact" AI use cases.
The second memo addresses AI acquisition. Here, too, the Trump administration maintains some consistency with a related Biden-era memo that Trump also withdrew, emphasizing the importance of supporting a competitive marketplace, tracking AI performance, managing relevant risks, and promoting collaboration. It also mandates that the General Services Administration and OMB create a repository of AI procurement tools within 200 days.
Join The Discussion