The Federal Government Is Rushing Toward AI. Our Reporting Offers Three Cautionary Tales.

A ProPublica cybersecurity reporter highlights three cautionary tales regarding the federal government's rapid adoption of AI, drawing parallels to past cloud computing transitions. The Trump administration announced agreements for federal agencies to purchase enterprise AI tools at low costs, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT for $1. This strategy echoes Microsoft's previous "free" security upgrades, which locked federal customers into costly subscriptions. Similarly, the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP), now operating with "an absolute minimum of support staff," struggles with oversight, having authorized products like Microsoft's GCC High despite cybersecurity reservations due to resource limitations. The government's reliance on third-party assessors, paid by the companies they evaluate, creates inherent conflicts of interest, potentially leading to inadequate vetting of new AI tools.