The Federal Chancellery has decided to establish an AI Taskforce. This initiative is intended to conduct a comprehensive inventory of all ongoing AI measures within the Federal Government and to ensure these efforts are coherently coordinated by October, according to an invitation letter sent to the State Secretaries of several ministries, as cited by the news magazine “Politico.”
A kick-off meeting is scheduled for Thursday evening at the Chancellery. The Federal Ministry for Digital Affairs and Government Modernization (BMDS) will serve as the lead institution, with all federal ministries represented by a State Secretary on the taskforce. The Chancellor’s office intends for this move to better consolidate the various AI initiatives that have currently been spread across different government departments.
The official letter stated that recent technological and geopolitical developments have underscored the critical significance of artificial intelligence for the security and competitiveness of Germany and Europe. To expedite the collective goal of transforming Germany into an “AI Nation,” the Chancellery deems a target-oriented coordination, the pooling of resources, and increased efficiency in coordinating AI policy as vital prerequisites.
The initial taskforce meeting aims to set the framework for future coordination. In addition to reviewing the current AI landscape and gathering department-specific inventories, topics such as AI in foreign and security policy will be addressed. The status of the concept for an AI Security Institute is also on the agenda.
At the expert level, five working groups will be set up: Frontier AI, AI Security, AI Infrastructure, AI and Society, and AI Application. The BMDS will be involved in all groups and will manage their coordination. These working groups are expected to present their results by the end of September, with a brief interim report due by the end of August. Ultimately, the goal is to establish a “stringent AI framework within the Federal Government” by the Digital Summit in November.
