Policy brief
ACM FAccT · 2025
One Bad NOFO? AI Governance in Federal Grantmaking
Federal agencies direct billions of dollars in grants that let state and local entities study, build, and use AI, which makes grant policy an overlooked lever for AI governance. Reviewing more than 40,000 non-defense notices of funding opportunity posted to Grants.gov between 2009 and 2024, we find agencies promoting AI in their notices while setting only a handful of AI-specific judging criteria or restrictions, even where the funded uses affect people’s rights.