Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk and his DOGE team are investigating the use of artificial intelligence as a means to optimize government operations and lower expenses. This initiative seeks to substitute certain bureaucratic roles with AI technology.
Musk has expressed his frustration with governmental inefficiencies, positing that AI could improve productivity by managing administrative duties, procurement processes, and regulatory oversight. Josh Gruenbaum, who leads the Federal Acquisition Service at the General Services Administration (GSA), revealed that they are contemplating the implementation of AI “in our portfolios.”
This strategy includes plans to downsize staff across the country. “We will be eliminating redundant business functions and associated staffing,” Gruenbaum stated earlier this week, suggesting that AI may take over existing roles.
On Tuesday, GSA employees were notified of the agency’s intention to reduce personnel and diminish its footprint nationwide. This action underscores the Trump administration’s resolve to swiftly decrease the federal workforce.
In an email, Gruenbaum, a Trump appointee, informed staff that the agency would be “cutting redundant business functions and associated staffing.” He also mentioned that the organization would no longer need employees in “certain areas of the country,” as reported by The New York Times.
On Thursday, a White House official confirmed to DailyMail that over 40,000 federal employees had accepted a buyout offer prior to the imminent midnight deadline. Thomas Shedd, a former Tesla engineer now affiliated with the GSA, conducted a meeting on Monday to outline plans for integrating AI into government functions.
“I’m not suggesting that this is an easy endeavor, but it is a pursuit worth undertaking, and one that can only be accomplished by our internal team,” Shedd remarked. “We cannot engage a third party to handle a project of this nature. It must be an internal technology team that manages this,” he elaborated, as reported by 404 media.
Shedd also elaborated on his intentions to integrate artificial intelligence into the Social Security system to aid in the identification of individuals and the detection and prevention of fraud.
“Things are going to become more intense,” he cautioned officials during the meeting.
Gruenbaum similarly expressed concern as around 2 million federal employees across the nation face a significant decision by Thursday: whether to accept an offer that permits them to resign while still receiving pay until the end of September. Officials from the Trump administration reported on Tuesday that tens of thousands of federal employees have already chosen to depart.
A subsequent email sent to GSA employees on Tuesday indicated that the deadline for deferred resignations was merely the beginning of workforce reductions. This deadline was characterized as a “first step,” with the agency planning to continue “right-sizing” its workforce, as stated in the email obtained by The Times.
The communication highlighted that the agency intends to close or consolidate many of its approximately 700 field offices. Gruenbaum remarked in the email, “We will be examining operations in every portfolio to enhance our business and adhere to the president’s directive to reduce the federal workforce.”
He further stated, “We can and must make difficult choices to establish a more streamlined and agile organization.”
