DOGE Staff Used ChatGPT to Flag $100M+ in Grants for Cuts
Two DOGE employees reportedly fed NEH grant data into ChatGPT to identify DEI-related funding worth over $100M to axe.
Here's a wild use case for ChatGPT nobody had on their bingo card: slashing federal arts funding.
Newly surfaced documents reveal two employees from DOGE used OpenAI's chatbot to sift through National Endowment for the Humanities grants and flag ones allegedly tied to DEI. The price tag on the chopping block? Over $100 million in previously approved funding.
The documents detail how AI became the screening tool of choice as the agency moved to align with President Trump's agenda. Most of the NEH's already-greenlit grants were canceled in the process.
It's a striking example of generative AI being deployed not for creation, but for destruction — algorithmically triaging which cultural and academic projects live or die. The move raises serious questions about using consumer-grade AI tools for consequential government decisions worth nine figures.