The new guidance around artificial intelligence in federal IT seems to boil down to this: Get beyond the hype. IT leaders, lawmakers and federal technology partners seem to be getting the message and are seeking practical and realistic ways to incorporate AI into how the government runs. IT leaders are starting to use AI in more applications, and agencies are thinking about how AI can make their operations more efficient and enhance national security. Meanwhile, the growth of AI in the consumer market and in government is pushing lawmakers to consider how AI will impact society and how it might be regulated. "Agency use of AI is accelerating in a number of areas based on machine learning technology, including cyberwarfare, robotics, border security, healthcare and virtual assistants," Deniece Peterson, Deltek's director of federal market analysis, told FedScoop last month.

When the safety and security of an entire nation is at stake, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the US needs to be "ahead of the curve", said Teresa Smetzer, Director of Digital Futures. It needs to go beyond just reporting on events to actually anticipating the next crisis. The agency's anticipatory intelligence cell uses machine learning and data science to draw insights from events that had happened in the past, and "report to our policymakers any issues of instability that they might have to deal with". "Rather than responding, they are proactively able to understand what they can do to change the situation," Smetzer said at the recent AWS re:Invent conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. Data is the "lifeblood" of many organisations, whether public and private, said Smetzer.

The phrase "artificial intelligence" can stir up a lot of panic at some federal agencies, and can give rise to the idea of intelligent machines putting some employees out of work. However, some federal agencies are embracing the idea of artificial intelligence, and in those test cases, adopting machine learning comes down to a few key strategies like starting small and managing expectations. While AI isn't a panacea for every big-data problem in government, agency leaders say they see value in using machine learning to handle the most tedious aspects of handling data, which frees up human operators to address more mission-critical issues. Insight by Red Hat: Agency experts examine the DevSecOps mindset in government. "Artificial intelligence is an imperative.

The phrase "artificial intelligence" can stir up a lot of panic at some federal agencies, and can give rise to the idea of intelligent machines putting some employees out of work. However, some federal agencies are embracing the idea of artificial intelligence, and in those test cases, adopting machine learning comes down to a few key strategies like starting small and managing expectations. While AI isn't a panacea for every big-data problem in government, agency leaders say they see value in using machine learning to handle the most tedious aspects of handling data, which frees up human operators to address more mission-critical issues. "Artificial intelligence is an imperative. It's not something that's nice to have, or something that we should consider at some point," Teresa Smetzer, the director of digital futures at the Central Intelligence Agency said Tuesday during an event sponsored by Partnership for Public Service and the IBM Center for the Business of Government.