AI is Here, Ready or Not. Government Cannot Wait

While I count myself among the healthy skeptics and relatively late adopters of AI, I do not view this technology as an existential, apocalyptic threat destined to surpass genuine human intelligence or destroy life as we know it. AI mimics intelligence, it is a product of our imagination and ingenuity, and we control its future. 

Whether one uses it or not, AI is changing the nature of how we work, communicate, and—importantly—how we govern. Public administrators should not retreat in fear but must run deliberately toward the opportunity to guide what that means.

We must manage AI responsibly. Human consideration and interaction must remain foundational. At the coding, execution, and evaluation phase, there must always be a human element in everything AI develops, deploys, augments, or agentizes.

We are standing on the precipice of a massive shift in computing power, moving rapidly toward what the President has coined "super intelligence"—though I would debate the precise use of the word "intelligence,” especially in this manner. Prominent figures across government, philanthropy, finance, and tech—including Donald Trump, Bill Gates, Jamie Dimon, and Elon Musk—are seemingly aligned on one reality: the future will be an AI-augmented world promising unprecedented abundance of health, wealth and productivity.

As public administrators, we must rapidly upscale our understanding and use of AI technology and prepare government systems for tomorrow’s citizens. At the dawn of the public internet more than three decades ago, government didn’t move fast enough. And we’re still playing regulatory catchup generations later. The National Academy of Public Administration and its Fellows have a vital role to play in our nation’s AI transformation. We are not just helping government adapt, we are equipping public servants to lead.

Advancing Agile Principles to Implement Solutions 

I recently joined the Academy's Agile Learning Program virtual training course to share insights on strategic foresight and its alignment to an agile mindset. Through the Agile Government Center, leaders like Academy Fellows Ed DeSeve and Rich Callahan are providing public servants learning opportunities that focus on practical application, iterative implementation of ideas, and leveraging networks to benefit from collective experience, all using agile principles. This approach empowers individuals and organizations to innovate and test solutions, a strategic imperative for tackling AI adoption challenges.

Outlining Frameworks and Implementing Guidance 

Six years ago, I co-led the Government Accountability Office’s first Technology Assessment on AI, alongside Academy Fellow and former GAO Chief Scientist Tim Persons. We concluded there needed to be better understanding of advanced technologies and their implications, improved data sharing and collection, improved partnerships with private sector stakeholders, as well as universal standards to provide guardrails on AI’s use—a necessity that has only intensified since.

I’ve also contributed to a 2024 ACT-IAC white paper, “AI Paranoia, AI Promise,” authored by Academy Fellow Judy Douglas, which called for more human collaboration to mitigate unintended consequences of AI. 

My five core recommendations from that paper still hold true today, now with a greater emphasis on understanding the unknowns or unanticipated actions of AI: 

(1) develop a common definition of AI; 

(2) improve AI literacy among leaders and the public; 

(3) establish policies and frameworks to govern for ethics and bias;

(4) maintain balanced perspective for both positive and negative consequences of AI, and; 

(5) build a use case inventory to advance learning.

Opportunity To Drive Policy and Regulation to Improve Outcomes and Build Trust 

Following the White House’s recent convening of tech leaders—which resulted in an inspiring but insufficient voluntary self-regulation pledge—the Academy is renewing its call to Make Government AI-Ready.

Executive Order 14434, inaugurating the Era of Super Intelligence, calls for a transformation in governance and will have far wider reaching implications than simply changing terminology and updating portal domains. The Academy and the public administration community must be prepared to help craft internal and external controls, encourage safe spaces for experimentation, partner with stakeholders to propose regulation, raise public awareness of challenges, offer proposals for legal and operational guardrails, and help evaluate AI's implications on culture, infrastructure, and societal disparity.

There must also be talent upscaling opportunities to support federal, state and local leaders through practical application, case studies, and experimentation with new technologies in real world scenarios. 

We have a collective opportunity to improve service delivery, workforce readiness, and intergovernmental collaboration. As President and CEO, I am committed to ensuring the Academy helps public sector leaders at all levels of government understand, master, and safely embrace this transformative moment. We must redouble our efforts to help government take on advanced technology challenges and opportunities, now and in the future.