As the federal government journeys into uncharted territory with the adoption of AI, it’s no surprise that the nation’s space exploration agency is one of the most innovative among the bunch. Krista Kinnard is NASA’s Digital Transformation, Culture and Communications Lead and was recently promoted to that agency's deputy chief AI officer, where she'll continue to play a key role shepherding the cultural push behind the agency’s AI revolution. The Daily Scoop recently caught up with Kinnard at ACT-IAC’s Imagine Nation ELC event in Hershey, Pa. During our conversation, we touched on her role at the agency and how it relates to AI, the progress the agency has made in adopting AI, and what’s ahead. 


The Department of Homeland Security has built an artificial intelligence-based chatbot it’s calling DHSChat, the latest in a string of agency experimentations with generative AI. DHSChat is designed as a chatbot meant for internal use within the agency, according to a press release shared Tuesday. The tool was developed by DHS’s AI Corps and its director, Michael Boyce, after employees experimented with commercial generative AI tools, including Claude and ChatGPT.  In a statement, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said that the “cutting-edge tool” would help workers across DHS “draft vital reports, summarize critical information, develop new software, streamline administrative tasks, and much more."

The Department of Health and Human Services was among the first federal agencies to release its 2024 AI use case inventory Monday, reporting a roughly 66% increase in uses from the previous year. In a post accompanying the inventory, Steven Posnack, HHS’s principal deputy assistant secretary for technology policy and principal deputy national coordinator for health IT, highlighted the health agency’s increase from 163 to 271 use cases and noted the varying stages of development. The new figure, for example, includes uses for operation and maintenance and in acquisition and development, as well as 16 uses that are retired. The inventory comes as agencies across the federal government are expected to release new and expanded lists of AI use cases for 2024.

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Lift off! How NASA is faring in its exploration of AI

Greg Otto talks with Rob Ragan, Principal Technology Strategist at Bishop Fox, as he shares his vision of building an “Iron Man suit” for human security testers that is shaping how AI is used in offensive cybersecurity. Rob dives into lessons learned from developing adaptive AI tools, the unique challenges and risks facing modern AI systems, and effective strategies for safeguarding against adversarial attacks and data leakage. Discover how ethical frameworks, innovation, and industry collaboration can drive responsible offensive security, what organizations often get wrong about AI threats, and what’s needed to secure the future as AI transforms the cybersecurity landscape.

In our reporter chat, Greg Otto talks with Matt Kapko about a new wave of zero-days impacting Ivanti products. 

Bishop Fox’s Rob Ragan and Iron Man Suit for pen testers

Greg Otto talks with Eran Barak, CEO and co-founder of MIND, on the dramatic rise of insider threats in cybersecurity, exploring recent high-profile cases and the factors fueling this surge. He discusses which industries and data types are most at risk, how insider tactics have evolved, and practical strategies for organizations to detect and prevent internal threats. In our reporter chat, Greg talks with Derek Johnson on how vibe coding can be secure as it grows into a practice that software developers rely on for their work.  


LINK: https://cyberscoop.com/vibe-coding-ai-cybersecurity-llm/


MIND’s Eran Barak

A podcast covering the latest news & trends facing top government leaders on topics such as technology, management & workforce. Hosted by Billy Mitchell on FedScoop and released Monday-Friday.

Lift off! How NASA is faring in its exploration of AI

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