GSA Announces AI-Themed Hackathon | FedScoop

The General Services Administration is inviting the public to participate in a challenge to reimagine federal websites with artificial intelligence and cloud tools.

This AI-themed hackathon, co-sponsored by OpenAI and Microsoft, will offer participants access to large language models, technologies for writing code, features to increase the consistency of AI-generated responses, and much more.

The event, scheduled for July 31 in Washington, D.C., Atlanta and New York, aims to determine what federal websites should do to address a future in which Americans “rely on generative AI tools to find information and access services,” the GSA said in a blog post. Additionally, the agency said a $10,000 prize pool will be up for grabs for winning participants and teams.

Zach Whitman, GSA’s chief artificial intelligence and data officer, said in the post that “the hackathon is about helping us optimize our services for the American people as they use more of these AI tools, in the same way that previous technologies have helped us evolve. GSA is always looking to use new tools to deliver more effective services to the American people — and now we’re looking to do the same using AI.”

In April, GSA Administrator Robin Carnahan said at AIScoop’s AITalks event that the agency was operating seven different sandbox environments and outlined upcoming AI applications. Later that month, and in line with the White House’s October executive order, the agency released a resource guide for federal buyers looking to procure generative AI solutions and associated infrastructure.

Last week, GSA released a framework for prioritizing emerging technologies, with a focus on generative AI, as part of its FedRAMP cloud authorization process.