We showed up to AI Talks with one question in mind: How do we, collectively, make artificial intelligence not just powerful—but purposeful—through the hands of government?
AI Talks, presented by AIScoop, brought together leaders from defense, civilian agencies, and the private sector to share how artificial intelligence is being implemented to enhance government performance, preserve institutional knowledge, and improve mission readiness.
Preserving Knowledge Amid Workforce Change
One of the summit’s clearest themes was AI’s role as a knowledge retention tool. As workforce reductions challenge continuity in federal agencies, chatbots trained on past employee communications and documentation are helping retain institutional memory. This shift reduces onboarding time and strengthens decision-making, even amid staffing churns.
Performance Depends on Feedback and Data Quality
Another core insight: AI is only as good as the data it’s trained on—and that data is only as effective as its evaluation. In other words, feedback loops and performance assessments are foundational to responsible and accurate AI deployment.
Toward a Unified Government Experience
Agencies are also developing tools to support cross-collaborative decision-making through AI-enabled, inter-agency data sharing. The end goal is a unified, more efficient government experience grounded in shared intelligence. Meanwhile, contractors like GDIT are building agentic AI systems to assist help desks, demonstrating how human-AI interaction can streamline service delivery in real time.
Cybersecurity and the Rise of the AI-Enabled Analyst
Cybersecurity continues to be a major use case for federal AI adoption. Analysts aren’t being replaced, they’re being augmented. AI models trained alongside cybersecurity professionals are becoming intelligent assistants, supporting detection, response, and strategy. That said, the largest implementation barrier remains workforce fluency, helping teams feel comfortable, competent, and in control of their automated tools.
AI in Defense: Governance, Gaps, and Guardrails
In the national security arena, federal and military leaders discussed how AI is helping answer critical questions: Who is the adversary? Where will conflict emerge? When and how will it escalate? Yet despite big data’s promise, AI governance in the military still faces major gaps. Outdated ATO processes, fragmented data systems, and cultural resistance to modernization remain roadblocks. To move forward, experts emphasized the importance of:
- Data rights enforcement
- Real-time anomaly detection
- Pre-deployment validation of large language models
- Ongoing feedback integration
- Maintaining inventories of AI assets and use cases
Importantly, leaders stressed that mission-driven use cases must guide innovation—not tech-for-tech’s-sake development.
The Coming Energy Crisis of AI
On the infrastructure side, the AI community is contending with an energy crisis. AI model training has grown 4–5x annually since 2010, and by 2028, AI will consume 19% of global data center power. A projected 160% increase in AI-related energy usage by 2030 has spurred a push for efficiency standards and green infrastructure. Encouragingly, AI is also being used to optimize renewable energy systems, making it part of the decarbonization solution.
Maryland’s Bold AI Experimentation Strategy
At the state level, Maryland is positioning itself as a testbed for public sector AI. Through a statewide experimentation directive and new workforce development initiatives, the state is building its foundational AI capabilities and increasing its “AI IQ” across departments.
Investing in AI Where It Counts
Ultimately, panelists aligned around one truth: how you invest in AI matters. Projects must deliver measurable outcomes—internally through efficiency and productivity, and externally through citizen services and mission acceleration. As the federal government prepares to invest over $4 billion in AI, aligning technology with impact is not just a priority—it’s a mandate.
How are you preparing your organization to deploy AI responsibly, stay cyber-ready, and reduce digital risk?
Let’s talk. Schedule a free cybersecurity hygiene consultation with our team at TWW—and turn smart technology into secure results.
