Musk's DOGE employee creates AI chatbot for US government
What's the story
A senior staffer of Elon Musk, Christopher Stanley, has created an AI chatbot to reduce government waste. The chatbot is powered by xAI, Musk's AI firm. Stanley, the head of security engineering at SpaceX, also works at the White House. The AI assistant is publicly accessible and hosted on a DOGE-named subdomain on Stanley's website.
Chatbot goals
AI chatbot's mission and methodology
The AI chatbot, dubbed the "Department of Government Efficiency AI Assistant," is designed to assist government personnel in detecting waste and improving efficiency. It is powered by xAI's Grok-2 technology and trained on DOGE's key objectives. These objectives include simplifying government requirements and removing "unnecessary parts or processes."
Efficiency suggestions
Chatbot's recommendations for government efficiency
When asked about USAID, a federal agency affected by DOGE's reforms, the chatbot recommended removing bureaucratic layers between decision-makers and fund recipients. It also suggested DOGE should follow political leaders like Margaret Thatcher and Lee Kuan Yew for their focus on efficiency and technology use. However, the chatbot has faced issues typical of large language models, such as hallucination.
AI integration
DOGE's AI adoption and potential conflict of interest
Reportedly, DOGE has adopted AI to modernize the US government. DOGE is also developing another AI chatbot for the General Services Administration. The potential conflict of interest with xAI remains unclear as large language models typically charge users through API usage. This could boost xAI's revenue if used by government workers. A representative for xAI was unavailable for comment on this matter.