Feds Confront AI Skills Gap Amid Rapid Adoption Push

Workforce readiness remains one of the biggest barriers to achieving efficiency gains as federal agencies integrate artificial intelligence into daily operations, officials said Wednesday at GovCIO Media & Research’s Federal IT Efficiency Summit.

“[Someone once] said 99% of all technical problems are between the laptop and the chair. And I think that’s the same way with AI. It’s a people problem,” said Marine Corps Service Data Officer Colin Crosby. “We need our workforce to understand AI is not a direct replacement.”

The Office of Management and Budget reported a rise in federal AI adoption earlier this year, with agencies submitting more than 3,600 AI use cases in the 2025 Federal AI Use Case Inventory, more than double the roughly 1,700 use cases reported in 2024. A Google Public Sector survey, however, noted that 37% of federal respondents cited skills gaps as the biggest barrier to accelerating AI adoption.

NASA Innovation and Change Strategy Senior Advisor Sarah Moffat said AI is fundamentally changing how employees work, requiring leaders to clearly communicate how the technology will impact workflows and organizational culture to build trust and adoption.

“Adopting AI requires changes to how we work and how we think about work,” Moffat said. “The stories that we’re telling and hearing about AI are really shaping the culture and what employees think about it.”

Federal leaders agreed that successful AI adoption depends less on the technology itself and more on workforce understanding of how to use it effectively. Labor Department Office of Apprenticeship Acting Administrator Megan Baird said building trust in AI starts with establishing strong AI literacy skills.

“You really need to understand how to talk to AI to get what you need and be efficient. Reviewing the accuracy of what AI generates is a role that is really critical as we’re using AI to make our job easier,” said Baird.

The Labor Department launched the AI in Registered Apprenticeship Innovation Portal in April to help organizations build AI literacy within registered apprenticeship programs. The portal combines free industry resources to support workforce development efforts.

“The portal can help if you’re trying to figure out what your team can use to understand basic AI literacy or how to incorporate AI literacy into upskilling current your workforce or training new entrants,” said Baird. “We have tried to really look at opportunities out there, vet them and collect them into [the portal].”

Crosby said his team is taking a multi-layered approach to AI adoption by engaging Marines at every level to support integration efforts across the service. The Marine Corps uses digital transformation teams as “operational muscle” to help commanders integrate modernization initiatives into daily operations.

“Other Marines are a great example for junior Marines to learn from. Not only are we starting at the top and in the middle layers, but we’re also starting with junior Marines as well,” said Crosby.

Moffat added that NASA’s communities of practice and staff demo events help identify champions for emerging technology adoption across the agency.

“Setting up those communities in our organizations, it takes the fear factor out to a degree,” said Moffat. “The stories people tell are really important, especially if they’re telling stories of success — that helps change the culture.”