Michael Hardy

The fight against climate change took on renewed urgency with the release of the November 2023 United Nations Global Stocktake report. That report found that progress against national climate action plans remains insufficient to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius, which the Paris Agreement set as a goal. 

Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Climate Change Secretariat, explained that the “baby steps” governments have taken so far are insufficient. He stated,...

Federal agency data can support transformation and data-driven decision making, but it can prove challenging to present in a form that its users and stakeholders can understand. 
Agencies recognize data as an important strategic asset, but endless rows of numbers on spreadsheets or static reports don’t allow for making important strategic or tactical decisions in the demanding and ever-changing environment of federal agency operations.
Data visualization provides the necessary refinement. By lev...

Artificial intelligence is rapidly spreading as its capabilities mature and organizations find innovative uses for it. It’s important to understand that AI comes in different forms, and carries with some unique risks. While those risks are manageable, agencies must be aware and ready to mitigate them.

Moreover, AI isn’t a solution for everything. Success requires choosing use cases that are amenable to AI assistance—and knowing which ones are not. In this lively and information discussion, fo...

John B. Owens II has driven key advancements in CGI’s IT environment and security. Under his leadership, CGI expanded its services to include specialized teams for cyberattack simulations and defenses that rigorously test for vulnerabilities and strengthen security.
CGI now also offers certified forensics capabilities, enabling precise investigation and response to cyber incidents.
In 2024, Owens led the Federal Solutions Group to secure FedRAMP approval for the Sunflower asset management cloud...

On October 6, 2022, the Biden Administration released updates from 25 agencies covering their climate adaptation and resilience program progress over the past year.On October 6, 2022, the Biden Administration released updates from 25 agencies covering their climate adaptation and resilience program progress over the past year. Just one year earlier, agencies released their agency-level climate adaptation and resilience plans (CAPs). These plans are required under Executive Order 14008, “Tackling...

As a strategic part of CGI’s global delivery model, our U.S. onshore delivery centers program provides our clients with unique access to talent outside of large metropolitan areas and creates innovation ecosystems, weaving universities and colleges into CGI’s consulting services. Our eight U.S. onshore delivery centers also have a mature community engagement model focusing on issues such as job creation, diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I), education, quality of life, and volunteerism in the...

Artificial intelligence is rapidly spreading as its capabilities mature and organizations find innovative uses for it. It’s important to understand that AI comes in different forms, and carries with some unique risks. While those risks are manageable, agencies must be aware and ready to mitigate them. Moreover, AI isn’t a solution for everything. Success requires choosing use cases that are amenable to AI assistance—and knowing which ones are not.

In this lively and information discussion, former federal CTO Pete Tseronis and CGI Director Josh Sonnier, Ph.D, unpack the nuances of AI and its use cases.

You can also listen on your favorite podcast platform. - https://cgivoices.buzzsprout.com/2203081/episodes/15813808-grappling-with-ai-risk-in-federal-agencies

#WeAreCGI #artificialintelligence #ai #federalit #technology #aitechnology

Chapters
Moving the needle on agency risk aversion: 3:20
Choosing AI tools and minimizing risk: 6:34
Ensuring accuracy in generative AI: 9:12
Choosing use cases for AI: 14:05
Building AI strategy: Notes for agency leaders: 19:38
How to prepare for AI: 23:55
Challenges: AI skills, data quality, resistance to change: 27:10
Integrating AI into business processes: 28:50

Resources
Making AI work for the American people - https://ai.gov/

OMB Guidance: Advancing Governance, Innovation, and Risk Management for Agency Use of Artificial Intelligence - https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/M-24-10-Advancing-Governance-Innovation-and-Risk-Management-for-Agency-Use-of-Artificial-Intelligence.pdf
Summary - https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/03/28/fact-sheet-vice-president-harris-announces-omb-policy-to-advance-governance-innovation-and-risk-management-in-federal-agencies-use-of-artificial-intelligence/

Sample federal AI use cases
Federal AI use cases - https://ai.gov/ai-use-cases/

NIST Standards (July 2024) - https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/ai/NIST.AI.100-5.pdf

Executive Order 14110 on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence (fact sheet) - https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/10/30/fact-sheet-president-biden-issues-executive-order-on-safe-secure-and-trustworthy-artificial-intelligence/

President Bill Clinton created the President's Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection in 1996 via an executive order. The next year, the panel issued "Critical Foundations," a report on the risks to the critical infrastructure as it was then defined.

Read the report

The order, E0 13010 was not the very beginning of the recognition of critical infrastructure. The government has long understood that certain systems and resources are essential for the operation and perpetuation of a civ...

At one time, the United States was the undisputed center of innovative technology development in the world — and the U.S. government led the charge. Because of government research, sleek cylinders carried men to the moon, and later, sleek cables carried data worldwide, a breakthrough that would come to be known as the Internet.
Click here to enlarge image (.pdf).

Times have changed. Other countries are emerging as technology centers, and the U.S. government has stepped back from its leadership...