To prevent the U.S. federal government from falling behind in the AI era, the Trump administration has introduced a new measure, through...A new project called "Tech Force"The government announced that it will join forces with technology companies such as Apple, Microsoft, OpenAI and NVIDIA to recruit about 1000 top engineers and technical experts to join government departments and upgrade the national AI infrastructure.
"Tech Force" focuses on advancing AI technology.
According toOfficial website informationThis "technology special forces" is not tasked with fixing printer jams in government agencies, but rather focuses on high-impact technology projects. Their core work includes:
• AI Implementation: Integrating artificial intelligence technologies into the operations of federal agencies.
• Application development: Optimize government digital services.
• Data modernization: Solving the problem of governments’ complex and outdated data architecture.
These technical experts will report directly to the heads of various federal agencies, possessing considerable authority and privileges.
Backed by tech giants, creating a talent "revolving door".
What makes this project most noteworthy is its impressive list of partners. In addition to Apple, Microsoft, and OpenAI, it also includes AWS (Amazon), Google, NVIDIA, Oracle, and the mysterious big data unicorn Palantir.
To attract talent accustomed to high salaries in Silicon Valley, "Tech Force" has designed a unique two-way mobility mechanism:
• Two-year term: Participants are required to commit to serving the government for two years.
• Priority hiring: After the term ends, the aforementioned tech giants have pledged to give "priority consideration" to hiring these experts with government experience.
• Corporate secondment: Private companies can also nominate internal employees to participate in the government's rotation service.
In terms of salary, the official annual salary ranges from US$15 to US$20 (approximately NT$488 million to NT$650 million), including benefits. While this may not be as high as the salaries of top engineers at NVIDIA or OpenAI, the career security offered by this "revolving door" and the sense of honor in serving the country still make it quite attractive.
Scott Kupor, director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), said the move was aimed at reshaping the workforce and ensuring the government has the right people to address modernization challenges.
Continuing the AI policy framework and removing interstate barriers
This plan is part of a series of recent AI policies from the Trump administration. Just four days earlier, Trump signed an executive order establishing a unified framework for artificial intelligence policy and emphasized removing barriers for AI companies to establish operations in the United States.
The concept of "Tech Force" is somewhat similar to the "United States Digital Services" (USDS) established during the Obama era, but this time it is larger in scale and has a more specific focus on AI and infrastructure.
For tech giants, this is an excellent opportunity to build closer relationships with governments (especially for companies like Palantir or Microsoft that maintain close partnerships with governments); for engineers, although the salary may be slightly "downgraded," they will have access to national-level data and projects, and their resumes will be enhanced. Returning to a tech giant two years later would be a worthwhile career investment.
This also shows that against the backdrop of the US-China tech war, the US government is eager to "infuse" the powerful AI technology capabilities of the private sector into the system in order to prevent government efficiency from being left far behind by the technological tsunami.
