Biden administration requests $3B for federal AI application development, procurement and integration in 2025 budget

The Biden administration’s $7.3 trillion budget request for fiscal 2025, released Monday, looks to provide up to $3 billion for federal agencies’ use of artificial intelligence and proposes $300 million to increase agency funds for the technology. 

The budget looks to advance the goals laid out in President Biden’s executive order on AI, by outlining approximately $30 million in funds for the National AI Research Resource pilot (NAIRR), $70 million for federal agencies to establish Chief AI Officers (CAIO), $32 million for the AI talent surge and more, according to an email shared by an Office of Management and Budget spokesperson.

“The Budget provides over $3 billion across agencies in order to responsibly develop, test, procure and integrate transformative AI applications across the federal government and supports the implementation of the administration’s executive order,” the spokesperson said. “The Budget also proposes $300 million in mandatory funding to increase agency funding for AI, both to address major risks and to advance its use for public good.”

In total, the Biden administration requested $75.1 billion for IT spending across civilian agencies in fiscal 2025, a small uptick from the $74.4 billion it asked for in 2024.

Significantly, the budget provides $65 million in support of the Department of Commerce’s AI Safety Institute, which is set to create “guidelines, tools, benchmarks and best practices to evaluate and mitigate risks using red-teaming and other methods.” According to the spokesperson, the consortium will include work to identify and mitigate against the creation of “harmful synthetic content” like deepfakes and enable the adoption of privacy-preserving AI. 

The OMB spokesperson shared that the budget seeks to bolster AI and tech talent throughout the government, giving $32 million in funding across the U.S. Digital Service, General Services Administration and Office of Personnel Management to bring AI talent into the public sector and “advancing AI priorities across the federal government.”

“The AI Talent Surge is bringing dedicated people into service to leverage AI to improve government services; make smart policies and regulations around AI to protect people’s rights, safety, and privacy; and further AI research and development (R&D), so that the United States continues to lead the world in cutting-edge AI innovation,” the spokesperson said.