Federal agency officials said on Tuesday that foundational learning, hands-on experience, and emphasizing the responsible use of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies are among the issues topping their priority list when it comes to training government employees on the integration of AI tech into agency operations.
Officials from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) said during an Aug. 27 Federal News Network event that making AI training interactive, and aiming for the goal of demystifying the technology, are important tenets of AI training services that they are offering.
“We’ve really built [trainings] around what is AI – really it’s kind of a basics on AI, from the generative AI to regular AI, to how those interact, how we use things to think about as government employees, how you can help them to augment [and] inform your work,” said Jason Barke, the deputy associate director of strategic workforce planning for OPM.
Barke said that training sessions offered by OPM are smaller-sized with the intent of keeping attendees engaged and that openings for training quickly fill up. The training, he said, is free to all government employees who are interested.
Jason Gray, USAID’s chief information officer (CIO), said that foundational training is also being offered to the agency’s internal staff and is focused on providing employees with “real examples” of AI uses.
“We’re explaining that AI helps to inform, but it does not decide – that is a human function – an individual needs to decide,” said Gray. He said USAID training also covers AI use limits, and emphasizes that employees must obtain authorization to access data before using appropriate AI systems, which is important to ensuring proper security.
“So training is key, but first is the operational. It’s very easy – it’s like, you cannot use agency data until it’s authorized,” he said. “Everyone knows that to reinforce the training, because we don’t want accidents to happen.”
Gray added that creating a term of service for AI use across all government agencies could also be helpful in AI management and responsible use.
Additional recommendations beyond training strategies include collaboration with employees.
“You get employee feedback, whether it’s annually, through the FEVS [Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey], whether it’s through poll surveys, whether it’s listening sessions, whether it’s through word of mouth, those are the things that you know that are important to employees,” said Barke.
