A nonprofit organization is suing four federal agencies after they failed to respond to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests on their use of artificial intelligence to support decisions in removing federal policies and adopting AI use cases.
Those agencies named in the suit brought by nonprofit Democracy Forward include the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and the General Services Administration (GSA).
In its suit filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Democracy Forward said that it filed multiple FOIA requests to “shed light on the extent and character of the Trump-Vance Administration’s use of AI in deregulation efforts,” and how that AI use is regulated.
“The rules that protect the health, safety, wages, and rights of millions of Americans could be impacted by novel approaches that reduce officials’ and expert employees’ level of involvement in the deregulation process,” said the nonprofit in its suit.
In a press release following its filing, Democracy Forward said that it was concerned with OPM’s proposed use of AI to analyze comments submitted on the “Improving Performance, Accountability and Responsiveness in the Civil Service” policy review playbook. It also noted GSA’s AI evaluation suite, intended to accelerate the adoption of AI across the federal government.
The nonprofit also pointed to OMB’s SweetREX Regulation AI Plan Builder, first created by the Department of Government Efficiency, a generative AI tool designed to help federal agencies identify, review, and remove government regulations.
“The public has a right to know the extent to which the administration has used unreliable and unproven AI tools to expand its agenda of undermining regulations that protect people,” said Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, in a statement.
“AI is a tool, but it must be ethically and skillfully utilized. AI is also not a replacement for the skilled professionals in our civil service who work to protect the health, safety, wages, and rights of millions of Americans,” Perryman continued. “Democracy Forward will continue to hold this administration accountable to the people.”
Agencies have 30 days to respond, according to the suit.
As of mid-September, Democracy Forward said it has led more than 100 suits against the second Trump administration since it entered office in January.