The federal government took great strides this week to make generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools and associated technologies cheaply available to agency users. We also saw multiple news reports from a couple of major industry conferences. For details, see our roundup below:
ChatGPT: I’d Buy That for a Dollar
Last week, the Government Accountability Office reported the use of generative AI increased markedly. This week, the General Services Administration (GSA) took steps to give agencies even more options for generative AI tools at deep discounts:
- Several reporters shared breaking news around new offerings announced via the GSA OneGov contracting program this week. Nick Wakeman at Washington Technology reported on the government’s new agreement with OpenAI offering the company’s ChatGPT Enterprise tool at the steep discount of $1 per agency for a year. Beyond that, agencies will get unlimited use of OpenAI advanced models for an additional 60 days, according to an article by John Curran in MeriTalk. In FedScoop, Miranda Nazzaro quoted OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s statement that, “One of the best ways to make sure AI works for everyone is to put it in the hands of the people serving the country.”
- Earlier in the week, reporters focused on the GSA’s move to add Anthropic’s Claude, Google’s Gemini and OpenAI’s ChatGPT generative AI services to its multiple award schedule vehicle. In his coverage, Wakeman noted that the GSA made the move in support of the recent White House AI action plan’s priority to accelerate the availability of AI tools across government. Curran wrote that the GSA is leaving the door open for additional services to be added to the schedule, while Nazzaro focused on GSA’s emphasis on services that eschew “ideological bias” in AI models.
- In other GSA OneGov news, Nazzaro’s colleague Billy Mitchell reported for FedScoop on the agency’s agreement with Amazon Web Services (AWS) that could save agencies up to $1 billion on cloud services. Washington Technology’s Ross Wilkers added that agencies can obtain those savings via credits aggregated across core AWS cloud services and other types of modernization support involving infrastructure and applications. Weslan Hansen quoted a GSA statement in MeriTalk which said the agreement will allow agencies “to enhance delivery of critical services, leverage cloud and advanced AI technologies, and dramatically reduce costs.”
News From Black Hat
Despite some confusing signals from the federal government regarding the extent to which it will continue to participate in industry conferences, we saw a number of articles from a major cybersecurity conference and a defense technology event this week:
- The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued an emergency directive instructing agencies to take immediate action to remediate a vulnerability in hybrid Microsoft Exchange environments, a warning that followed in-depth discussions of the threat at the Black Hat conference in Las Vegas, according to a report from the event by David DiMolfetta in Nextgov/FCW. In coverage of the directive for Federal News Network, Justin Doubleday noted that CISA was not aware of active exploitation of the vulnerability, but that it could “severely impact an organization’s identity integrity and administrative access across cloud-connected services” if unaddressed. Greg Otto of CyberScoop interviewed two CISA officials at the conference about the vulnerability and other topics for the Safe Mode podcast.
- DiMolfetta also reported from Black Hat on several government-focused presentations, including one from two CISA officials who stated the agency is committed to supporting the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures Program, just months after it faced a near complete lapse in funding.
- In another example of federal officials assuring Black Hat attendees of support for existing cybersecurity initiatives, acting Federal Chief Information Security Officer Michael Duffy told attendees that the federal government is still pushing agencies to adopt zero-trust network designs, continuing a project that gained steam during the Biden administration, according to an article in tech trade Cybersecurity Dive by Eric Geller.
- Ahead of Black Hat, Dana Nickel reported in Politico that despite participation from CISA and NSA, federal government representation at Black Hat and other industry conferences is dwindling.
News From Space & Missile Defense (SMD) 2025
- Defense tech reporters also covered SMD 2025 in Huntsville, Alabama this week. Theresa Hitchens wrote in Breaking Defense that Defense officials in attendance were refusing to comment on the department’s biggest missile defense program, Golden Dome. In a similar article, Sandra Erwin of space industry trade Space News noted that the $175 billion program contributed to record attendance at the event, “[y]et government officials were instructed not to mention the program by name during the conference.”
- Aside from Golden Dome, there was news of a new Army space strategy focused on space control, electronic warfare and counter-communications, according to another article from Hitchens. Reporting from the conference, Jen Judson of Defense News noted that the policy will also focus on “prioritizing smart missile defeat,” the ability to address the missile threat before it even leaves the ground.
- Army officials at SMD 2025 said the service is also looking to integrate commercial software into its battlefield robotics initiative, as noted in a piece from the event by Ashley Roque for Breaking Defense.
Events Next Week
There are a couple of events that might be worth your attention in the coming week:
- August 14, Defense Roadshow: The AI Mission Advantage, Google Public Sector & Carahsoft, Washington, D.C.
- August 14-15, DIA TECHINT Conference, AFCEA & Defense Intelligence Agency, DIA Headquarters, Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, Washington, D.C.
Finally, here’s another reminder to check out the “Gov & Beyond” podcast to hear compelling interviews with the reporters and editors who report on these issues every day.
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