Federal Agency AI Use Case Inventories

Federal AI inventories are public reporting records, not a complete census of every algorithm or an audit of system performance. Their framework combines Executive Order 13960, the Advancing American AI Act in the FY2023 National Defense Authorization Act, and OMB implementation memoranda. Section 7225 of the Act requires inventories of current and planned agency AI use cases and public availability subject to applicable law and policy; the statute specified a five-year period after enactment. OMB Memorandum M-25-21, issued April 3, 2025, sets an at-least-annual reporting cadence, submission to OMB, and a public version on agency websites. It excludes the Department of Defense and Intelligence Community from that memo’s inventory task. OMB’s 2025 reporting instructions translated these authorities into a data call with individually reported cases and consolidated reporting for some commercial off-the-shelf products. The instructions set a December 22, 2025 submission deadline to OMB and January 28, 2026 public posting date. They also set boundaries: some national-security, intelligence, research and other protected uses are outside reporting scope or not public, while high-impact or operational research cases can still require individual reporting. Exact exemptions and fields depend on current instructions, not the title of a product. The central OMB repository consolidates agency submissions and links to source agency inventories. Its 2025 release describes itself as a compilation of publicly available agency files. Entries are self-reported and reflect the fields and scope of that reporting cycle; a listing does not prove safety, effectiveness or completeness. Conversely, absence from the public repository does not establish that no AI is used. Treat the inventory as a transparency starting point and check the reporting year, agency source and limitations before drawing conclusions.