Trump and Musk Revamping Government Organizations... Creating an 'AI Assistant' for Efficiency

Focus on 'Work Efficiency'... Accelerating Development of GSA Chatbot 'GSAi'

"Cooperate with Government Efficiency Department's Downsizing Plan"

Trump Signs Executive Order to Empower

Musk Promotes Productivity Enhancement with AI

DOGE's Musk Kids as Key Players

Some Say "Bureaucratic Group vs. Tech Faction Full-Scale War"

'Is the Government Outsourcing Market Opening?'

Governments Worldwide Closely Watching the Project

On the 11th (local time), U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order regarding the federal government downsizing plan at the White House. Elon Musk, Chairman of the Government Efficiency Department (DOGE), who was watching the scene, claimed, "We have an unelected and unconstitutional 'fourth branch' bureaucracy," and "They have more power than the elected representatives of the people." Analysts see this as a symbolic scene where Musk, the CEO of Tesla and a pinnacle figure in the U.S. tech industry, is taking a serious stance against the bureaucratic group.

Tech Giant Led by 'Musk Kids'

The executive order includes a directive for the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to submit a plan to streamline and downsize federal government personnel. According to this order, each government agency must establish a plan to hire only one person for every four who leave. This applies to all agencies except those related to public safety, immigration enforcement, law enforcement, and the IRS. The order also includes a directive for each agency head to consult with the Government Efficiency Department (DOGE) representative, who was deployed on the 20th of last month, regarding hiring plans. This means full authority is in Musk's hands.

Musk is also developing a chatbot specialized for government operations. According to foreign media such as Wired and SiliconANGLE on the 12th, DOGE is accelerating the development of a custom generative AI chatbot 'GSAi' for the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA). The 'GSAi Project' is being promoted as part of President Trump's AI priority policy for modernizing the U.S. federal government. The main goal of this plan is to enhance the work efficiency of about 12,000 GSA employees who manage federal government office buildings, contracts, and IT infrastructure.

DOGE's AI strategy focuses on deploying AI coding agents within the government. The plan is to automatically generate code and perform editing and Q&A to enhance government productivity, which is the vision of President Trump and CEO Musk. Thomas Shed, a former Tesla employee and head of GSA's Technology Innovation Service, stated, "The goal is to build a centralized contract management system to properly and accurately analyze government spending." According to the Washington Post (WP), six so-called 'Musk Kids' under the age of 25 are active in DOGE, led by Musk, including the GSAi project.

Global Attention on Government AI Experiment

In addition to developing GSAi, DOGE is also dispatched to various federal agencies to review expenditures and identify targets for cuts. DOGE's goal is to save $1 trillion to $2 trillion from the federal government's budget, which amounts to about $7 trillion. The U.S. fiscal deficit is projected to be about $1.83 trillion for the 2024 fiscal year, surpassing the pre-COVID-19 pandemic peak. Interest on federal debt, social security pensions, and increased spending on healthcare and military are cited as major causes.

On this day, President Trump raised his voice, saying, "The waste of the U.S. government could approach $1 trillion."

Activities of DOGE, including the GSAi project, are expected to be an important test for accelerating the digital transformation of the U.S. federal government. In the U.S., the significance of the GASi project is seen not just as AI development for a single government department but as indicating the potential expansion of DOGE's AI development. It is analyzed that after applying it to the GSA, there is a high possibility of spreading to other federal agencies.

An AI industry insider said, "If this project succeeds, countries wanting to streamline government operations may seriously consider adopting it," adding, "The market for privatization or outsourcing of government operations, which existed only in imagination, may open." He continued, "A full-scale war has begun between the massive bureaucratic group in the U.S. and the emerging tech faction," and "Governments around the world will have no choice but to closely watch."

Reporter Kang Kyung-joo/Washington Correspondent Lee Sang-eun qurasoha@hankyung.com