Elon Musk is making waves in the federal government with his focus on artificial intelligence (A.I.) as a tool to reduce federal spending. As part of the Department of Government Efficiency, Musk and his allies are using A.I. to identify budget cuts and detect waste and abuse within federal agencies. Thomas Shedd, a former Tesla engineer appointed by the administration, is leading technology efforts at the General Services Administration (G.S.A.) and has emphasized the use of A.I. for cost reduction.
The G.S.A. is expected to cut its budget by 50%, and Musk’s team, known as the Department of Government Efficiency, has been interviewing workers to identify talent and potential redundancies. A.I. would be used to pool government contracts in a central database and assess them for budget reductions, as well as detect fraud and waste.
While President Trump has praised Musk’s efforts to shrink government spending, it is unclear if A.I. can be used as envisioned by Musk’s allies. Musk, who leads xAI, has a history of utilizing A.I. in his companies and has warned about the potential dangers of the technology if not properly controlled. Trump has appointed David Sacks as the “White House A.I. and Crypto Czar” and announced a $100 billion A.I. initiative involving OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank.
Musk claims that there is significant waste and fraud in government spending, citing examples such as “fake people” collecting Social Security and Medicare payments. Musk believes that addressing waste, fraud, and abuse could save up to a trillion dollars, although he did not provide specifics on that number.
Note: The image is for illustrative purposes only and is not the original image of the presented article.
