US Department of Commerce Launches Working Group for Generative AI Exploration

The US Department of Commerce is setting up a new ‘working group’ to determine how generative AI can help advance its strategic goals.

The working group called “AI and Open Government Data Assets Working Group,” has been assigned the responsibility of formulating guidelines for releasing commerce data suitable for utilization by emerging AI technologies, including generative AI.

“Innovations such as Google’s Data Commons and OpenAI’s ChatGPT have shown that generative AI can empower users to discover and quickly derive insights from public data without specialized expertise or knowledge,” the department said in an official update.

“By simply engaging in a plain language conversation with an AI model, users can obtain illuminating statistics, graphs, charts, and maps on a wide range of topics, including demographics, economics, and the climate. We are hopeful that enabling simpler interfaces can allow for more equitable access to our data by a wide variety of users,” the update further said.

The working group will also be responsible for equipping generative AI models with the necessary data.

However, employing this technology carries certain risks, including the occurrence of hallucinations. At times, the models may produce false information. The working group will also oversee all risks associated with these models including hallucinations.

Interestingly, other departments such as the US Department of Agriculture, and the Department of Defence are also potentially exploring the use of generative AI.

In August 2023, the Department of Defense (DoD) initiated a task force dedicated to generative AI, underscoring the DoD's dedication to leveraging AI power in a responsible and strategic fashion.