Representatives from Elon Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service have fed sensitive data from across the Education Department into artificial intelligence software to probe the agency’s programs and spending, according to two people with knowledge of the DOGE team’s actions.
The AI probe includes data with personally identifiable information for people who manage grants, as well as sensitive internal financial data, the two people said. They described DOGE activities at the Education Department on the condition of anonymity due to fear of retaliation.
The DOGE team is using AI software accessed through Microsoft’s cloud computing service Azure to pore through every dollar of money the department disburses, from contracts to grants to work trip expenses, one of the people said. Lower level department staffers were directed by agency leadership to let Musk’s teams access the sensitive financial data, the person said.
The use of AI inside the Department of Education, which has not previously been reported, shows how Musk’s group, which includes former employees from his tech empire, is tapping the favorite tool of Silicon Valley as part of its mission to drastically slash the size and functions of the federal government.
At the Department of Education, the DOGE’s team aims to radically reduce spending and ultimately shrink the department and its staff, the people said - helping further the Trump administration’s push to get rid of it entirely.
The DOGE team plans to replicate this process across many departments and agencies, accessing the back-end software at different parts of the government and then using AI technology to extract and sift through information about spending on employees and programs, including DEI initiatives, according to another person familiar with the DOGE process, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to describe it.
Like other tech leaders, Musk has frequently championed AI as a tool capable of rapidly making sense of data and situations that can confuse humans. However, because of the technology’s risks, many private-sector companies and U.S. government departments have banned workers from using it on secure materials.
Feeding sensitive data into AI software puts it into the possession of a system’s operator, increasing the chances it will be leaked or swept up in cyberattacks. AI can also make errors, for example hallucinating incorrect information when summarizing data.
Microsoft Azure can be used to access AI tools made by many different companies, and it is unclear which the DOGE workers used. Representatives from DOGE and Microsoft declined to comment. A spokesperson for the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Madi Biedermann, deputy assistant secretary for communications at the Education Department, wrote in a statement Thursday that the DOGE representatives are federal employees who possess the requisite security clearances and background checks.
Staffers “are focused on making the Department more cost-efficient, effective, and accountable to the taxpayers,” Biedermann said. “There is nothing inappropriate or nefarious going on.”
DOGE’s use of AI inside the Education Department is a significant departure from the Biden administration’s policy on the technology, which encouraged federal agencies to use the technology only after developing tests and guidelines to ensure that its use didn’t compromise privacy and cybersecurity.
Musk’s group has rapidly taken over government offices tasked with controlling payments, human resources and IT for the federal government. The Technology Transformation Services section of the General Services Administration, a group established during the Obama administration to make government platforms more accessible and intuitive, has become a key tool of the DOGE campaign.
[Musk’s agents access sensitive federal personnel data, alarming security officials]
In a Monday meeting, Thomas Shedd, a former Tesla employee who was named head of the TTS last month, told workers there that the group would be a “centralized place” to collect government contracts so they could be analyzed with AI, according to a recording obtained by The Washington Post.
Alondra Nelson, who worked on AI policy at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy during the Biden administration, said in an interview that most Americans are skeptical of AI and don’t want it being used in government, especially if it’s unclear how it’s being deployed.
“Do we want these tools unleashed in government and society without guardrails?” she said. “There’s a lot of concern and mistrust about the use of AI in American society.”
The DOGE team’s AI-fueled campaign to winnow down the Education Department has already identified dozens of contracts as targets for cuts, two of the people familiar with the group’s work said. They have indicated their intention is to eliminate every contract that is not essential to operations or required by law, according to one of the people.
“That’s the way you kill an agency, is you remove all [of] their ability to perform their role,” the person said.
And the DOGE team has already used its access to the Education Department’s data to enact significant changes. By the end of January, DOGE members had gained entrée to data on federal student aid, including the personal information for millions who receive student loans from the government - and to information on department personnel and trainings, according to three people with knowledge of the team’s access.
Working swiftly last week, one of the people said, the Musk team used information on past trainings to place roughly 100 people on paid administrative leave in compliance with Trump’s executive order forbidding federal diversity, equity or inclusion efforts. The vast majority of people placed on leave had signed up for a single diversity training, The Post previously reported, some of them because it helped fulfill a job requirement.
The vast majority of the people are still on leave as of Thursday, according to Sheria Smith, president of the union which represents Education Department employees - and most of them are female or non-White, she said.
A staffer inside the Education Department said the DOGE team is working with almost unbelievable speed, not just at his agency but across the government. On Wednesday alone, DOGE representatives gained access to sensitive health payments at the Department of Health and Human Services and began seeking data from the Labor Department and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, The Post reported.
“They have a playbook, which is to get access to the data,” the staffer said. “And once they’re in, it’s already over.”
Aaron Schaffer, Razzan Nakhlawi and Laura Meckler contributed to this report.