Hundreds of workers hired under the Biden administration and tasked with using artificial intelligence to find ways to improve government efficiency were fired under the Trump administration, despite its focus being on government efficiency and expanding AI.
As part of the Trump administration’s efforts to get rid of swaths of government employees and reimagine the federal workforce in President Donald Trump’s vision, most of the roughly 200 AI technology experts hired in the final year and a half of Biden’s presidency have been let go, Time reported.
Those AI experts were specifically hired to find ways to reduce inefficiency throughout the government, such as reducing Social Security wait times, simplifying tax filings, helping veterans track medical care and more.
But after Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency team took over the U.S. Digital Services office, they fired hundreds of the hires, who may have been considered probationary workers. Other hires focused on AI and efficiency were fired after Musk eliminated the technology office in the General Services Administration, former officials who worked in the offices told Time.
Trump’s administration has been focused on improving efficiency and the president himself has promised to expand AI technology in the U.S.
Earlier this month, Russell Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, issued a memorandum asking agencies to implement AI to “enhance government efficiency” and “increase quality of public services.”
Yet a majority of the people the Biden administration hired to do the same job as recently as last year were fired, according to the report.
The Independent has asked the White House for comment.
Angelica Quirarte, a recruiter who was hired under former president Joe Biden to bring talented technologists from the private sector to the federal government, told Time she helped hire approximately 250 AI experts, but only about 10 percent remain.
Quirarte said it will likely be “really hard” for the Trump administration to hire more tech workers after the chaotic firings and layoffs.
Even Quirarte, who remained a recruiter for the government during the beginning of the Trump administration, bowed out of the job after it became overwhelming.
“It was not an environment where you assumed good intent—you’re operating out of fear,” Quirarte told Time. “That’s not an environment where you can get good policy and good governing work done.”