DOGE is Developing a Government Chatbot

The Elon Musk-run Department of Government Efficiency is reportedly working on a chatbot called “GSAi” that would take over a bulk of the work at the US General Services Administration — the agency in charge of managing office buildings, contracts, and IT infrastructure across the federal government.

The Big Picture: DOGE has spent the past three weeks fanning out across every federal agency in an effort to collect data, shrink their workforces, and cut spending… seemingly to remake the executive branch on a foundation of artificial intelligence.

Behind the Code: DOGE is interested in the GSAi because it gives the department a 30,000-foot overview of how money flows throughout the federal government.

• GSAi would be granted access to all the paid contracts that run in and out of the executive branch, letting the DOGE team pinpoint quickly where it wants to cut “waste” (as defined by the current administration).
• That’s key for the White House’s stated goal of liquidating over half of the government’s nonmilitary real estate — a bid to end remote and hybrid work and force resignations ultimately.
• The chatbot could also theoretically replace a majority of the 12,000 workers in the GSA to cut down on the workforce and the costs that come with people.

The Future: AI expansion has become a major part of the current administration to optimize the federal government, update technological infrastructure, and compete with geopolitical rivals like China. With President Donald Trump having campaigned on shrinking federal bureaucracy and making it easier for the President to control the executive branch, implementing a government-run AI system to replace human workers could be the most efficient way to achieve that goal.

Considering the laundry list of issues plaguing even the most advanced private AI systems out there, the tech’s rollout across the agencies that keep America running will be one of the most hotly debated topics in Washington.