Government-wide Hiring Authorities for Advancing Federal Government Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

• Authority: Office of Personnel Management
• Parent authority: Federal government
• Jurisdiction: United States
• Collections: U.S. regulations, executive orders, and agency policies
• Most recent activity: Enacted
• Most recent activity date: 2023-12-29

Risk subdomain coverage

All other risk subdomains had no coverage in this document.

Risk Coverage Summary

This document has minimal risk domain coverage, focusing primarily on administrative hiring procedures rather than AI risks. It briefly touches on governance structures (6.5) through its establishment of hiring authorities and reporting mechanisms, but does not address governance failures. No other risk domains are substantively covered.

Sector coverage

Good coverage — Comprehensive governance measures or mitigations with clear procedures relating to the sector are explicitly described.

• Public Administration (excl. National Security)

Minimal coverage — Brief mention but no specific mitigations, recommendations or governance measures relating to the sector are described.

• National Security

All other sectors had no coverage in this document.

Sectors Summary

This document governs hiring practices across all federal government agencies and departments, falling primarily under Public Administration. It does not regulate AI use in specific economic sectors but rather establishes workforce development mechanisms for federal AI capabilities across all government functions.

Legislative Status

Hard Law

Legislative Status Summary

This is a binding regulatory directive from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) with mandatory language, specific enforcement mechanisms, and legal authority under Executive Order 14110 and federal personnel regulations.

Actors

Proposer

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Entities: U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM); President of the United States (via Executive Order 14110)
• Summary: The document is a memorandum from Kiran A. Ahuja, Director of OPM, implementing requirements from Executive Order 14110. The EO required OPM to conduct reviews and grant hiring authorities, which OPM is now doing through this memorandum.

Target

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Entities: Heads of Departments and Agencies; Federal agencies; Chief Human Capital Officers (CHCO); Deputy CHCOs; Human Resources Directors
• Summary: The memorandum is explicitly addressed to 'Heads of Departments and Agencies' and applies to all federal agencies seeking to hire AI-related personnel. The document governs how federal agencies must use the hiring authorities.

Enforcer

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Entities: U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM)
• Summary: OPM has explicit authority to monitor agency use of the hiring authorities, request information, assess continued need, and modify or terminate the authorities. OPM also has oversight over compliance with federal personnel regulations.

Monitor

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Entities: U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM)
• Summary: OPM has explicit monitoring responsibilities through quarterly reporting requirements from agencies and periodic assessment of authority usage. Agencies must report detailed hiring data to OPM.

AI Lifecycle Stages

Lifecycle stages covered by the documents, as defined in the OECD Framework for the Classification of AI Systems

No lifecycle stages identified.

AI Lifecycle Summary

This document does not govern specific AI lifecycle stages but rather establishes hiring authorities to recruit personnel who will work on AI across various lifecycle stages. It is a workforce development instrument rather than a technical AI governance document.

Technical Scope

Terms relating to technical scope that are mentioned or implicitly referenced in the document

No technical scope terms identified.

Technical Scope Summary

The document mentions AI in general terms as the subject area for hiring but does not define or distinguish between AI models, systems, frontier AI, general purpose AI, or other technical categories. It focuses on job series and hiring procedures rather than technical AI specifications.