AI Training Series for Government Employees | GSA - IT Modernization Centers of Excellence

Welcome to the AI Training Series for Government Employees

Enhance your skills and knowledge of the rapidly evolving world of artificial intelligence (AI).

Our comprehensive training series, which meets the training requirements of the Artificial Intelligence Executive Order, is designed to inform and educate government employees at all levels, offering specialized tracks to meet the diverse needs of the government workforce. The TTS Centers of Excellence AI Community of Practice (AI CoP) is conducting this AI Training in partnership with Stanford HAI, GWU Law School, Princeton CITP, Wilson Center, GSA OGP, and OMB.

Register Today!

Registration for each track is now open:

Acquisitions: Equipping government employees with knowledge to effectively procure and manage AI technologies
Leadership and Policy Track: Empowering government leaders with the insights and strategies necessary to guide AI initiatives within their organizations
Technical Track: Equipping government employees with the knowledge to understand, implement, and govern AI technologies

Notes on Registration:

All government employees with a .GOV or .MIL email address may register for any track.
To attend sessions in multiple tracks, you must individually register for each track.
All training sessions will be conducted as a ZoomGov Webinar. Recordings will be made available after the sessions to those not able to attend live.

About the 2024 Series

The AI Training Series is designed to provide you with practical knowledge and leading academic centers’ experience in artificial intelligence. It is divided into three distinct tracks — Acquisition, Technical, and Leadership and Policy — each containing multiple AI-related sessions to provide valuable information for a wide range of roles and responsibilities within the government workforce. All government employees may attend any sessions in any track at no cost. No prior expertise is required to attend. All training sessions will be conducted as a ZoomGov Webinar, and participants will register through Zoom. Live captioning will be available to all participants. Recordings will be made available after the sessions to those not able to attend live.

The goals of the training series are to:

Educate the government workforce on the basics and current landscape of AI as it relates to Acquisition, Technology, and Leadership and Policy
Provide access to academic AI leaders for all government employees
Encourage responsible use of AI across the government to improve operations

Training is open to ALL government employees. This training fulfills the mandates included in the AI Training Act and Responsible AI EO 13960.

2024 AI Training Series Frequently Asked Questions

Schedules and Courses

Acquisition

In partnership with The George Washington University Law School, the Acquisition Track focuses on equipping government employees with knowledge to effectively procure and manage AI technologies. Participants will encounter the fundamentals of procuring government AI solutions, better understand the potential of AI in public service, and consider current challenges in risk management and ethics. Additionally, they will learn to craft an approach to AI acquisition, gain critical insights for safeguarding national security, and understand guidelines for managing sensitive information responsibly. GW Law is the academic birthplace of the study of government procurement law with the leading government contracts law program and a mission to provide a richer understanding of how procurement systems operate.

Buying AI: Government Contracts 101	Wednesday, September 4, 2024, 12-1pm EST	A foundational overview of basic federal procurement policies and requirements as they relate to AI, so that attendees have a better understanding of the goals and constraints of U.S. federal acquisition.
How Does AI Benefit the Federal Government?	Wednesday, September 11, 2024, 12-1pm EST	Customer needs and satisfaction are a foundational underpinning of the U.S. procurement system. This session will discuss the ways in which AI may benefit “the business” of the U.S. federal government.
Risk Management & Ethics	Monday, September 16, 2024, 12-1pm EST	An overview of the ethical considerations and risk mitigation measures essential to responsible AI acquisition.
Developing a Long-Term AI Acquisition Strategy	Tuesday, September 17, 2024, 12-1pm EST	This session will focus on special considerations for a long-term AI acquisition strategy, such as ensuring explainability, how AI could harm the federal government and U.S. citizens, as well as statutory and policy compliance, including meeting U.S. government technical best practices.
National Security AI Acquisitions	Thursday, September 19, 2024, 12-1pm EST	AI acquisitions to advance national security agency missions and programs or those that enhance tech stacks require special considerations of existing and new requirements. This session will survey the landscape and outline key considerations to make sound decisions.
Data Privacy Considerations	Tuesday, September 24, 1-2pm EST	An overview of the general and AI procurement-specific data privacy considerations that are crucial to an effective and compliant procurement strategy, including mitigating the risks of harms associated with AI.
Compliance with AI-Related Regulations	Wednesday, September 25, 12-1pm EST	The acquisition of AI is governed by a myriad regulatory requirements. This session will help attendees identify and understand the key regulations that govern the purchase of this technology.

Technical

In collaboration with the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI), the Technical Track aims to equip federal employees with the knowledge to understand, implement, and govern AI technologies. These sessions break down complex AI concepts into digestible lessons, grounded in multidisciplinary research. Participants will learn about human-centered AI development, implementation, and application, including topics on the technical underpinnings of foundation models, examples of risks, privacy and security, as well as techniques that AI developers can use to evaluate and mitigate risks. The mission of HAI is to advance AI research, education, policy and practice to improve the human condition.

Navigating the AI Landscape	Tuesday, October 1, 2024, 12-1pm EST	This course provides a comprehensive overview of AI, including the definition, theories of AI and machine learning, neural networks, narrow vs. general AI, gradient descent, use cases, and more.
Privacy & Security	Thursday, October 3, 2024, 12-1pm EST	This course covers how different social values around privacy, data ownership, and data creation will impact what AI technologies are possible today and what the future paths of innovation in AI will look like.
AI Safety & Robustness	Monday, October 7, 2024, 12-1pm EST	The course looks at the considerations that AI developers must evaluate when designing AI systems for safety such as how to address biased inputs, navigate constantly evolving conditions, and address explainability issues. The course will look at how we can navigate all these risks and design the right parameters for safety.
Generative AI Fairness	Tuesday, October 8, 2024, 12-1pm EST	This course provides an in-depth understanding of how biases embedded in data can lead generative AI models to make certain predictions that are systematically different across groups and how to assess algorithmic fairness for human-facing applications of generative AI.
HELM and Benchmarking Foundation Models	Thursday, October 10, 2024, 12-1pm EST	This course covers the importance of benchmarking AI models as a way to understand the capabilities of systems and promote transparency amongst model developers. The course will also discuss Stanford’s Holistic Evaluation of Language Models (HELM) benchmarking approach which serves as a model to evaluate language models.
Building and Training Foundation Models	Tuesday, October 15, 2024, 12-1pm EST	This course provides more depth into what goes into building a foundation model. It discusses the challenges associated with training and the various stages of model development.
Multimodal Foundation Models	Wednesday, October 24, 2024, 1-2pm EST	Multimodal foundation models are capable of processing and generating both visual and textual information. This course will discuss how the development of these models could further expand generative AI capabilities and their potential downstream uses.
Training Cost-Effective Large Language Models	Thursday, October 23, 2024, 12-1pm EST	The cost of training large language models (LLM) is currently quite high with top of the line models costing billions of dollars to train. However, are costs expected to always remain that high? This course looks into the resources required to train LLMs and what could be done to make training them more cost effective.

Leadership and Policy

In partnership with the Center for Information Technology Policy (CITP) at Princeton University, the Leadership and Policy Track aims to empower government leaders with the insights and strategies necessary to guide AI initiatives within their organizations and to better understand and improve the relationship between technology and society. This track covers AI policy development, ethical leadership, and strategic planning. The Center for Information Technology Policy is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, interdisciplinary hub where researchers study the impact of digital technologies on society for the good of society.

AI Foundations for Decision Makers	Thursday, September 12, 2024, 12-1pm EST	This session provides a comprehensive introduction to the science behind artificial intelligence, focusing on how AI systems work and their key technological features. It also equips decision-makers with the skills to identify misleading AI claims and distinguish them from genuine technological advances.
AI Strategies and Insights	Thursday, September 26, 2024, 12-1pm EST	This session looks at how the government can leverage AI for enhanced decision-making and operational efficiency. The session also introduces frameworks for the ethical adoption and implementation of AI tools in public sector initiatives.
Risk & Mitigation	Wednesday, October 2, 2024, 12-1pm EST	This course examines the potential risks AI poses, such as bias and privacy concerns. The session offers practical strategies for mitigating these risks to ensure responsible and secure AI implementation.
AI Auditing	Wednesday, October 16, 2024, 12-1pm EST	This session guides government leaders on how to audit AI systems to ensure they adhere to performance, safety, and ethical standards. The session emphasizes the critical role of rigorous assessments in maintaining accountability and trust in AI technologies within the public sector.
Future Trends in AI	Tuesday, October 22, 2024, 12-1pm EST	This course examines emerging trends in artificial intelligence and provides insights on how to anticipate and prepare for future developments in the field.
AI & Security	Tuesday, October 29, 2024, 12-1pm EST	This course explores the vulnerabilities of AI systems to potential attacks and methods for protecting against these threats. The session also highlights efforts to develop and identify AI that is reliable, safe, and trustworthy.