Agencies also cited personnel challenges, including recruiting individuals with the needed skills against private sector companies that have the same needs and ongoing education and technical skill development of their current workforce. Image: jackpress/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffUse by federal agencies of generative AI–which can create text, images, audio, video, and other content—is growing faster than increase in use of AI overall but agencies cite challenges including adapting to the rapid developments in that technology.
GAO said that across 11 selected agencies, AI use cases nearly doubled to more than 1,100 in 2024 alone, while the number of those involving generative AI increased about nine-fold, to just under 300. Most current or planned uses are to support internal agency operations, such as streamlining processes and improving communication, it said.
“For instance, agencies have used generative AI to enhance the quality of written communications, facilitating clearer and more effective information access. Additionally, generative-AI-driven tools have been implemented for information searching, enabling personnel to retrieve relevant data more efficiently. Furthermore, report summarization is another area where agencies reported that generative AI can contribute to operational efficiency by condensing extensive documents into concise summaries, aiding in quicker comprehension and decision-making,” it said.
It gave as examples a VA effort to automate various medical imaging processes to enhance veterans’ diagnostic services and an HHS effort to extract information from publications and identify outbreaks in areas previously thought to be polio-free.
However, agency officials told GAO that they continue to face challenges including complying with existing federal policies and guidance, having sufficient technical resources and budget, and maintaining up-to-date appropriate use policies. Officials at most of the agencies “said existing federal policy, such as data privacy policy, could present obstacles to adoption. Furthermore, officials at four agencies told GAO that the technology’s rapid evolution can complicate establishment of generative AI policies and practices.”
Concerns included lack of clarity about “how generative AI systems arrive at certain outputs”; the need to guard against “outputs that seem plausible but are ultimately false”; and the need to “ensure that personal, controlled unclassified information, and classified data used in the training and deploying of generative AI models.”
Agencies also cited personnel challenges, including recruiting individuals with the needed skills against private sector companies that have the same needs and ongoing education and technical skill development of their current workforce.
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