UPDATE — SEPTEMBER 2025: Since the consolidated federal AI inventory was released on December 17, 2024, agencies and OMB have advanced implementation under M-24-10:

• OMB clarifications (spring 2025): Guidance detailed how to conduct independent evaluations for rights- and safety-impacting AI and confirmed that the 206 extensions granted in Dec 2024 do not auto-renew; agencies must show progress and submit updated risk mitigations by Dec 1, 2025.

• Agency inventory catch-ups: DOT and Education, absent from the 2024 rollup, said their inventories will appear in OMB’s fall 2025 update. Preliminary briefings point to DOT safety-monitoring tools and Education student-data analytics pilots undergoing extra rights-impacting reviews.

• VA compliance progress: Of the 145 rights-impacting VA systems, ~40 completed full risk assessments by June 2025, with additional assessments in queue before the Dec 1, 2025 checkpoint.

• Congressional oversight (summer 2025): House Oversight and Senate Homeland Security pressed agencies on post-deadline compliance. Several acknowledged temporary suspensions of systems at DHS and VA pending independent testing.

• Classified-use metrics timing: OMB now targets early 2026 for the first aggregate metrics on classified/sensitive AI (counts by risk tier, assessment status, compliance rates).

• Evaluation capacity: OMB and GSA launched a federal AI evaluation support pool (July 2025) to help agencies source third-party testing expertise.

• What’s next: The GitHub inventory hasn’t been updated since Dec 2024; the next consolidated report is expected December 2025, incorporating DOT, Education, and updated compliance statuses across agencies.

ORIGINAL NEWS POST:

Federal Agencies Double AI Use Cases in 2024, Reflecting Expanding Adoption and Increased Oversight

The White House has unveiled a consolidated inventory of federal artificial intelligence (AI) use cases, highlighting a dramatic expansion in adoption across government agencies. Released on December 17, 2024, the report documents 1,757 public AI applications across 37 federal agencies, more than doubling the 710 use cases reported in 2023.

The inventory, now publicly accessible on the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) GitHub, showcases the evolving role of AI in federal operations. According to the Chief Information Officer Council, the most common applications include mission-enabling internal support, health and medical services, and government service delivery.

This year’s inventory is the first to require agencies to disclose rights- and safety-impacting AI use cases, which carry additional risk management requirements under OMB’s AI policy memo (M-24-10). Agencies unable to meet these requirements by the December 1 deadline were required to halt operations. The inventory identified 227 such use cases, with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) accounting for 145 of them.

The Department of Health and Human Services reported the highest number of AI use cases, with 271 applications, marking a 66% increase over the previous year. The VA followed with 229 use cases, while the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) disclosed 183, representing a 136% year-over-year increase. DHS’s inventory includes the introduction of a new internal chatbot, DHSChat, to enhance agency operations.

Agencies reported use cases across various stages of development, from acquisition and development to operational and maintenance phases. However, classified and sensitive applications, such as those within the Department of Defense and intelligence community, are excluded from public inventories. This year, the Biden administration introduced a requirement for agencies to report aggregate metrics for these use cases, though the publication date for such metrics remains unclear.

The OMB granted year-long extensions for 206 AI use cases to comply with risk management practices. Agencies cited challenges such as conducting independent evaluations, mitigating emerging risks, and completing AI impact assessments for safety- and rights-impacting applications. Extensions were approved based on justifications, compliance efforts, and the potential impact on critical government processes.

While most major federal agencies contributed to the inventory, several, including the Department of Transportation and Department of Education, were absent from the consolidated report. These agencies have stated that their inventories will be made publicly available later on and incorporated into an OMB update in 2025.

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