Tag Archives: artificial intelligence

New AI Guidance, Similar Goals

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In early April, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released a pair of memos to provide agencies with guardrails for how they use and purchase artificial intelligence (AI). These memos replaced guidance issued by the previous administration but maintain many of the same structures.

The first memorandum, M-25-21, gives agencies three priorities when accelerating the federal use of AI: innovation, governance, and public trust. It states, "...agencies are directed to provide improved services to the public, while maintaining strong safeguards for civil rights, civil liberties, and privacy." The memo maintains items that were established under the Biden administration, including:

  • The creation of chief AI officer roles and AI councils "to serve as change agents and AI advocates, rather than overseeing layers of bureaucracy."
  • Implement minimum risk management practices for "high-impact" AI use--those applications of AI that could have significant impacts when deployed.

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Event Spotlight: Gartner Security & Risk Management Summit

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The 2025 Gartner Security & Risk Management Summit invites attendees to "Engage. Innovate. Lead." The event draws on the expertise of Gartner analysts to address the challenges of increasingly complex cyber environments, providing insights on cybersecurity strategy and innovation, leadership, business engagement, metrics, risk management, cloud security, data security, AI, and more.

Access to Gartner analysts is a major feature of the summit. In addition to presenting research and insights in sessions, analysts are available to meet with attendees throughout the event.

This year's summit is being held June 9-11 in National Harbor, MD, just outside of Washington, DC. Gartner has seen tremendous growth in interest over the years, and this year's gathering is expected to be the biggest yet, with around 5,400 attendees. This growth can be attributed to the increased use of artificial intelligence (AI). AI use introduces new efficiencies to organizations but also opens up new opportunities for threat actors to infiltrate and impact those groups. Additionally, regulations around AI use are just being developed, leaving many chief information security officers (CISOs) unsure of how best to implement and secure AI, as well as how to communicate the associated risks to senior stakeholders. Continue reading →

Building AI Knowledge = Building Your Career

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Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming a key element in every workplace. More than a tool, AI is a colleague, helping us work more efficiently and providing better access to data. While AI is not being built and implemented to replace humans, some people may find their roles greatly altered by its use. While AI itself will not replace an employee, a person who cannot work with AI may find themselves replaced by a person who can. Ensuring you understand how to use AI in your daily work is critical to ongoing career growth.

Understanding AI does not mean having to become a programmer, a software engineer, or a data scientist, and a deep dive into its technical workings is not necessary. What will help is a hands-on understanding of how to utilize AI for tasks, as well as how to interpret and use the data AI generates. Continue reading →

How Agencies are Building Experience and Trust with AI

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State and local agencies are looking for ways to incorporate artificial intelligence (AI), and specifically generative AI, into their operations. While the promise of increased efficiency is a driving force in AI adoption, there is considerable resistance to implementing this technology when it remains largely untested in government settings. Additionally, states and localities lack the personnel and infrastructure to manage and effectively use some of the more advanced AI solutions now available.

The adoption and success of AI in state and local government requires an open mind and a measured approach. Agencies are looking for low-risk, high-reward opportunities to begin testing out AI effectiveness. A recent report from the National Association of State Chief Information Officers found that transcribing meetings, managing and generating documents, and generating software code were some of the top processes for which state CIOs reported currently using generative AI. Continue reading →

DHS’s Commitment to Innovation

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Under its umbrella mission of "securing the nation from the many threats we face," the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) defines several mission areas critical to meeting this goal. These include countering terrorism and preventing threats, securing and managing borders, administering immigration, securing cyberspace, building resilience, and responding to incidents, as well as combating crimes of exploitation. To support these areas, the DHS Innovation, Research & Development Strategic Plan defines eight scientific areas as focal points for research:

  • Advanced sensing
  • AI and autonomous systems
  • Biotechnology
  • Climate change
  • Communications and networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Data integration, analytics, modeling, and simulation
  • Digital identity and trust

In a previous post, we looked at DHS's work with artificial intelligence (AI), digital identity, and climate change. In this post, we'll take a look at the activity happening in more of these eight areas. Continue reading →