GSA announces 11 new Presidential Innovation Fellows to focus on AI

The latest cohort of Presidential Innovation Fellows will be the first to exclusively focus on artificial intelligence technologies, fulfilling another mandate in President Joe Biden’s October 2023 executive order on AI as a means to strengthen the talent pool of prospective federal employees.

Announced by the General Services Administration on Monday, the 11 new fellows have been selected from private sector companies and organizations in the U.S. to spend a yearlong tour of duty focused on understanding AI’s ongoing and future role in public sector operations.

“All of our fellows are making significant contributions to technology innovation and modernization across government — and this AI-focused cohort will do the same,” said GSA Administrator Robin Carnahan. “This new class of fellows will focus on values-driven implementation aligned with the executive order on AI so that we can harness the benefits of this new technology, mitigate the risks, and ensure Americans get better service delivery from their government.”

Projects for the cohort will include amplifying the potential for AI to expand access to justice, minimize consumer harm and improve electric grid infrastructure to further support clean energy and uninterrupted service operations.

“We’re excited to welcome a technologist through the PIF program to advance DOE’s transformative work at the intersection of AI and energy,” Helena Fu, the director of the Department of Energy's Office of Critical and Emerging Technologies, said in a press release. “The fellow will help propel our VoltAIc Initiative — building AI-powered tools to streamline siting and permitting to help accelerate deployment of clean energy infrastructure.”

The fellows will serve as strategic senior advisors supporting federal executive leadership in offices in the Department of Justice, the Department of Defense, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the Department of Energy, the Office of Management and Budget, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Department of State and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. 

“The breakthroughs we're making in computing and artificial intelligence are super-exciting and, in my opinion, substantively different from prior revolutions in technology,” said James Pavur, a fellow chosen for the AI cohort who will be lending his expertise to the Department of State. “I believe government is the place where technologists have the greatest chance of helping those developments bring equitable and safe benefits to all people.”