The order borrows heavily from principles already established by the defense and intelligence communities, extending them to those outside the national security space.

Paymen Sadegh fills the vacancy left by the agency's first CDO hired in 2013.

The 2021 PIFs will be working remotely. They were chosen with an added emphasis on attracting artificial intelligence talent to the federal government. They'll be working remotely.

Anil Cheriyan recently joined FedScoop for a videoconference call to describe his team's partnership with other federal agencies during the pandemic and how the demand for it has grown "significantly."

Agencies increasingly want PIFs to help drive their AI efforts through automation, RPA or more advanced machine learning, according to a GSA spokesperson.

The 20 fellows are placed at nine different agencies.