The future of AI in the federal workforce

If you ask Office of Personnel Management Director Scott Kupor how he thinks about the role of AI in his agency’s mission, he’ll tell you he sees two different prevailing perspectives: one with a “big OPM” mission and another for “little OPM.” At least that’s how he described it to me recently at UiPath’s Fusion conference in Washington, DC. During our interview, Kupor shared about juxtaposition, emerging AI use cases that OPM is driving forward, and much more.

The Department of Homeland Security intends to continue its work with Cellebrite, a provider of digital forensics hardware and software tools, according to forecast documents released last week. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as well as the department’s Homeland Security Investigations unit, plan to award a five-year, indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract with a $100 million ceiling to the vendor later this year. Cellebrite’s products enable the agency to access data from cellphones, tablets and — more recently — unmanned aerial vehicles. The Israeli firm’s data extraction capabilities are “the most widely utilized and deployed computer forensic tool” within HSI, per the document. Cellebrite has been deployed across DHS, including its reported use within the Secret Service to break into the phone of the man who shot President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Butler, Pa., in 2024.

DOGE’s playbook for using artificial intelligence to eliminate regulations was on full display at the Department of Housing and Urban Development last summer with the introduction of an AI tool built for the “extermination” of federal housing rules. Documents obtained by Democracy Forward via Freedom of Information Act requests reveal a PowerPoint presentation delivered at HUD on SweetREX, a tool named for DOGE associate Christopher Sweet, according to Wired reporting last August. The new documents, shared with FedScoop, laid out a multistep process in which all HUD regulations would be analyzed by the AI. The tool would then provide recommendations to “keep, delete, or partial delete” each rule, per the presentation. Attorneys would review the suggestions and agency staffers would make the final decision. HUD regulations cover everything from the prohibition of discrimination on the basis of sex in mortgage assistance to providing legal aid for foreclosure-related issues.

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