SSA Seeks Public Input for an AI Strategy That Includes Agents

The Social Security Administration is seeking public input on an enterprise AI strategy that includes agentic capabilities—the latest sign that it is planning beyond conventional AI tools. The request comes after SSA’s September 2025 enterprise AI strategy, which did not mention agentic AI.

SSA issued the request for information on Aug. 14 as it develops a coordinated, agency-wide approach to AI. The agency says the strategy will align with broader federal AI policy and draw lessons from other agencies and the private sector; the RFI is one of several inputs shaping it.

In June, Chief AI Officer Brian Peltier said SSA was preparing to expand mission use of agentic AI as the capabilities mature. The new inquiry puts that goal beside the practical work of building an enterprise program, rather than treating agents as a standalone deployment.

SSA’s five focus areas are opportunity pipelines, talent, enterprise architecture, training and governance. Its architecture questions cover data readiness, platform layers, and governance and oversight layers; respondents are asked to offer approaches and models, not vendor or product recommendations.

The practical questions SSA wants answered

• Pipeline: models, case studies and methods for finding and prioritizing AI opportunities, plus mechanisms for ongoing coordination with external partners.
• Talent: ways to recruit, onboard and retain AI-skilled staff, including direct-hire authorities, rotations, fellowships and public-private partnership models.
• Training and governance: ways to help staff use AI in daily work while balancing deployment speed with accountability, transparency and public trust.

SSA’s latest AI inventory lists one agentic use case, still in pre-deployment. It is a non-high-impact IT tool intended to help developers code faster, save time and reduce costs—not a listed public-facing benefits use case.

SSA welcomes recommended models, case studies, high-level implementation considerations, and rough cost or resource estimates. Responses are due by 5 p.m. on Sept. 28, leaving the agency to weigh outside proposals alongside its other strategy inputs.