Department of Government Efficiency

The Department of Government Efficiency, led by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, plans to utilize artificial intelligence to evaluate responses from federal employees following an ultimatum to justify their roles, as reported by NBC News.

Last week, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) reportedly emailed federal workers requesting them to outline their accomplishments from the previous week.

No official comments have been provided by Musk, DOGE, or the OPM regarding the potential use of AI in analyzing worker responses. Attempts to contact OPM have yet to receive a response.

> “Please reply to this email with approx. 5 bullets of what you accomplished last week and cc your manager,” the email reportedly stated. “Please do not send any classified information, links, or attachments. Deadline is this Monday at 11:59 pm EST.”

Despite this, Musk commented on X, labeling the email request as “utterly trivial.”

> “The standard for passing the test was to type some words and press send,” Musk stated. “Yet so many failed even that inane test, urged on in some cases by their managers.”

While concerns about AI replacing jobs are often seen as a future issue, the reality is that AI is already influencing hiring and firing decisions.

A 2023 Pew Research Center study found that 62% of Americans believe AI will significantly affect job holders. The survey revealed widespread concern regarding the use of AI for hiring and workplace evaluations.

> “They reject the idea that AI would be used in making final hiring decisions, by a ratio of roughly ten-to-one,” the Pew Research Center reported. “A smaller plurality (41%) also opposes the use of AI in reviewing job applications.”

It remains uncertain whether AI will determine the future of federal employees. Still, lawsuits against the integration of AI in hiring processes have already emerged in federal court.

In 2022, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued iTutorGroup, a China-based tutoring company, for age discrimination. The lawsuit claimed that the company’s AI-driven hiring system automatically rejected female applicants over 55 and male applicants over 60, contravening U.S. employment laws.

The case was resolved in August 2023, with iTutorGroup agreeing to pay $365,000 to over 200 job applicants who were unjustly rejected due to their age.

Edited by Sebastian Sinclair