Generative AI Demands Federal Workforce Readiness, Officials Say

Generative AI is enhancing the federal workforce and improving operational efficiency, but success depends on strong change management and workforce readiness, IT officials explained during GovCIO Media & Research’s Federal IT Efficiency Summit in Tysons, Virginia, last week.

NASA and DOI Outline Generative AI Use Cases

David Salvagnini, chief data and AI officer at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) highlighted the agency’s Crew Medical Officer Decision Assistant (CMODA) AI tool, which helps astronauts collect and interpret medical data in space — even without real-time communication with mission control.

“CMODA is a resource for them that allows them to query that rich repository of medical data and help diagnose an incident,” said Salvagnini. “There’s even imaging capabilities. An ultrasound image of an anatomical feature of an astronaut in a near zero gravity environment looks different than it would on Earth. [You would have to] retrain the model and teach it what a particular medical condition might look like in that type of condition.”

At the Interior Department, officials are using generative AI to improve internal search and discovery. To encourage adoption, the agency created a prompt script tailored to various business lines, including acquisition, finance and grants, showing how staff could use the tool in their day-to-day work.

“This is how [generative AI] can be used within your line of business to help accelerate and streamline and produce efficiencies within your job,” said Brandon. “That was one of the ways we were able to execute the newest form of AI that’s more readily available and to get people accustomed to using it and ensuring they didn’t have fear of using artificial intelligence.”

Tony James, chief architect of Science and Space at Red Hat, said having a common platform and bolstering strategic vendor partnerships play a key role in successful AI implementation.

“[Strategic vendor partnerships] bring with it the enablement capabilities for the staff at these federal agencies so that they’re not chasing the latest and greatest in terms of a brand new version of a model,” said James. “Do you need something that’s going to change in three to six months or do you want something that you can operationalize, that will be online and supported in your organization for 12 months plus?”

Training and Upskilling Are Critical to AI Success

DOI has expanded training programs to further integrate AI into operations. The agency has trained staff on tools like Microsoft Copilot and outlined ways to use the SAP S/4HANA Financial Management Platform to improve efficiency. As comfort with AI grows, DOI has deployed robotic process automation in acquisition and property workflows, streamlining operations and enhancing visibility into spending.

“We’re going to continue to use SAP S/4HANA with more insight into our financial data, more ways that we can do tracking and reconciliation, not just quarterly, but on a daily basis,” said Brandon. “[We can also] catch some of our issues and concerns, not just technical errors, but spending, being able to look at what’s being spent and why it’s being spent.”

NASA is also investing in hands-on learning. The agency’s three-month Summer of AI campaign introduced employees to new technologies and let them explore how those tools could be used in practice.

“We’re letting them get comfortable with the tools and then encouraging them to explore how to make those tools even more capable,” Salvagnini said.