The General Services Administration’s (GSA) Open Government Federal Advisory Committee (OG FAC) will consider how to incorporate artificial intelligence (AI) technologies into its mission to make government more accountable and increase public access to government data, a panel member said on Dec. 11.
AI “is really top of mind across the open government communities,” Amy Holmes, executive director of the Bloomberg Center for Government Excellence, said during an OG FAC meeting that formally kicked off the panel’s work.
The OG FAC is helping GSA develop the sixth U.S. Open Government National Action Plan (NAP 6), a successor to the fifth edition of the policy that first emerged in 2011. The body will advise the GSA administrator on the new plan, which is aimed at increasing public access to government data and records and engaging the public in the regulatory process.
GSA unveiled plans in April to create the advisory panel.
It remains unclear what role AI will play in the OG FAC’s work, but Holmes said the technology was discussed as a “priority” area during a recent preparatory meeting of some committee members.
The committee voted during its Dec. 11 meeting to establish three subcommittees – including one examining emerging open government issues – and Holmes said that subcommittee will take up topics that include AI.
The other two new subcommittees will review the impact of past national action plans and potential recommendations for the new one. The meeting this week focused mostly on administrative issues and how the committee intends to organize itself – what committee Chairperson Daniel Schuman called “nuts and bolts.” Schuman is executive director of the American Governance Institute.
The discussion about AI was the latest sign that the committee intends to leverage technology in developing the new action plan. At a meeting in October, GSA Administrator Robin Carnahan encouraged a focus on technology solutions to improve open governance and collaboration with the public while developing the new action plan.
GSA says another goal for the plan is to improve government service delivery, part of an overarching topic – government efficiency – that has emerged as a major focus for the incoming Trump administration.
President-elect Trump is planning to create a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) advisory group, with a mission of finding ways to reduce government spending and potentially do away with any number of government operations.
Vivek Ramaswamy, who is co-lead of the group, said on Dec. 4 that DOGE’s success hinges on the need to modernize technology across the Federal government.