Microsoft’s Copilot AI arrives in the US House of Representatives

The US House of Representatives has reversed its ban on AI use for staffers. The lower house of the US Congress has announced that it will launch a pilot project giving lawmakers access to Microsoft 365 Copilot.

During the annual Congressional Hackathon this week, House Speaker Mike Johnson confirmed that the AI chatbot, which is integrated with OneDrive and Outlook, will be available to up to 6,000 staffers over the next year, an Axios report claims. The decision reverses a prohibition put in place last year due to concerns about potential data leakage.An emailed notice from Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Catherine Szpindor to House staff (seen by Computerworld) says that Microsoft Copilot “[will allow] the House to better serve constituents and streamline workflows. In addition, all House offices will have access to Copilot Chat, a lighter-weight version that does not have direct access to office data but does provide heightened legal and data protections.”Testing of the products started in June, with early adopters and leadership teams reportedly set to gain access in the coming months.

AI products that US government may integrate in the coming days

The notice also noted Copilot is not the only AI tool being evaluated by the US government. It added: “We are reviewing the recent $1 annual offers from major AI companies to the federal government that are applicable to Congress.”With that in mind, the CAO is reportedly reviewing these short-term offerings and planning how the enterprise versions of the platforms can be tested over the coming year.

These initiatives expand on two years of efforts that involved what the notice described as “thorough reviews and authorisations for most major AI tools, including ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Apple Intelligence, Copilot, Adobe Cloud, and more,” along with the launch of the House AI Expo in July, which featured over 15 vendors and speakers.Additional information about the rollout will be shared “in the coming months.”“This is a significant moment in the history of this institution, and proof that we mean it when we say that the US can and must win the AI race,” Johnson said to FedScoop, adding that AI has the potential to “unlock extraordinary savings for the government if we do it right, and add to Congress’s capacity to better serve the American people.”