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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