How the U.S. Government Hires, Uses, and Pays for AI Tools and Talent

On February 24, CSET, the Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation, and Georgetown Law’s Institute for Technology Law and Policy hosted a discussion on the federal government's procurement and use of AI tools and talent.

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Event Description

The U.S. government sits in a unique position to guide the development and deployment of AI — both as a policymaking body and as an AI user itself. So how does the U.S. government currently buy and use AI tools, and how can it improve? How well-equipped is it to hire and retain the necessary talent that guides government technology innovation? 

These questions and more have been central to the “Government AI Hire, Use, Buy” Roundtable Series jointly hosted by Georgetown’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology and Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation, alongside Georgetown Law’s Institute for Technology Law and Policy. Over the last year, and with the support of the Rockefeller Foundation, the three organizations have hosted a series of roundtables convening government officials, civil society leaders, congressional staff, academics, and industry representatives to discuss the policy and legal challenges and opportunities associated with government use of AI. A forthcoming collection of reports will summarize the key findings and takeaways from each of the roundtables. 

Final Recording

Participants

Alla Goldman Seiffert leads public sector public policy at Amazon Web Services. Before coming to Amazon, she worked as the Director of Cloud Policy and Counsel at Internet Association, where she was responsible for advocating for IA’s cloud priorities and enterprise policy positions. Seiffert has spent her career working to modernize government through the adoption of innovative technologies. Prior to working in the industry, she served at the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), as acting Assistant Commissioner for the Technology Transformation Service Office of Acquisition, and as a product manager at 18F. Seiffert holds a law degree from the University of Arizona College of Law.

Matthias Oschinski is a Senior Fellow at Georgetown’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET), focusing on research related to the AI workforce. Prior to joining CSET Matthias was Lead Executive, Data Catalyst at MaRS Discovery District, a Toronto-based innovation hub. Additionally, as the founder of Belongnomics he collaborated with a variety of organizations across Canada and the United States on projects related to the future of work and inclusive growth. Over the past two decades Matthias has worked in academia, the private sector, non- profit organizations, and think tanks. His research concentrated on the impacts of emerging technologies on labor and skills, with a commitment to fostering inclusive innovation. Moreover, Matthias serves as a Sessional Lecturer at the University of Toronto’s Munk School for Global Affairs and Public Policy. He has a PhD in Economics from the Johannes-Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany, a masters’ degree in Forced Migration from Oxford University and a masters’ degree in Economics from the Julius-Maximilians University in Würzburg, Germany.

Elizabeth Laird serves as CDT’s Director, Equity in Civic Technology, where she leads the organization’s work in this critical area. Building on the work she leads in CDT’s Student Privacy Project, her work engages civic institutions to promote the responsible, equitable use of data and technology to improve outcomes for individuals and the public good, while ensuring it does not come at the expense of privacy and civil rights. Prior to joining CDT, Elizabeth served as deputy assistant superintendent of data, assessment, and research at the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE), DC’s state education agency. In that role, she served as OSSE’s privacy officer and led the implementation of student privacy training for all staff, reviewed and approved data requests and data systems application releases, and provided guidance to staff on how to collect and protect student data. Before joining OSSE, she was accepted into The Broad Residency in Urban Education and worked at the Louisiana Department of Education where she oversaw the implementation of a restrictive student privacy bill. She began her career in education data and privacy at the Data Quality Campaign, where she worked for seven years, most recently as the director of communications and external affairs. Elizabeth holds a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from Vanderbilt University, a Master of Public Affairs from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin, and a Master of Education in Educational Leadership from The Broad Center for the Management of School Systems.