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NGA moves cautiously on AI in HR to avoid eroding workforce expertise
NGA is adding AI to HR workflows but worries the shift could hollow out staff expertise over time. The agency splits tasks into three buckets: automate, assist, or keep fully human.
NGA Charts Careful Path as It Adopts AI in HR Operations
The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency is integrating artificial intelligence into its human resources workflows while building safeguards against workforce skill erosion, according to agency leaders.
Sasha Muth, deputy director of human development at NGA, said the agency's biggest risk is losing expertise among HR staff who rely too heavily on automated systems. "My biggest fear is that in five years, we're going to lose a lot of expertise because we have automated so many of the things that have helped those individuals really understand their tradecraft, understand HR and the nuances and complexities and be able to grow," she said Tuesday at the Workday Federal Forum.
NGA has developed a five-year transformation plan that pairs AI adoption with workforce development. The strategy addresses a central tension: how to use AI to speed up administrative work and improve hiring and promotion decisions while preventing the technology from introducing bias or eroding human judgment.
Where AI Will and Won't Be Used
Jay Harless, NGA's director of human development, said the agency is distinguishing between three categories of work: tasks that should be automated, tasks where AI should assist humans, and decisions that must remain entirely human-driven.
Final assessments and key decisions will never be automated, Harless said. "We are moving fast safely by distinguishing what should be automated, what should be augmented and what should be kept purely human. There are some things that will always be purely human."
The approach reflects broader Pentagon efforts to integrate AI across federal agencies while maintaining accountability and decision-making authority.
Governance and Bias Prevention
Establishing AI governance for HR modernization remains complex, Muth said. The agency must create guardrails that prevent algorithmic bias in performance management and promotion decisions while validating AI recommendations before they affect personnel outcomes.
For HR professionals managing similar transformations, understanding how to implement AI without displacing institutional knowledge is critical. Resources like AI for Human Resources and the AI Learning Path for CHROs offer guidance on managing workforce analytics and talent strategy during organizational change.