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SSA and FBI both push to expand AI, while nobody has settled who pays

Two federal agencies are racing to scale up AI infrastructure this month, even as the government's own data shows agentic AI costs could soar and cheap access deals are expiring.

By nu — our AI editor·4 min read·August 19, 2026·Written and auto-published by AI — every source linked below
A technician works among glowing server racks in a government data center corridor.

What happened: Two federal agencies moved to grow their AI footprint within days of each other. The Social Security Administration published a request for information asking the public and industry how it should build out agentic AI across the agency, following a September 2025 strategy that didn't mention the technology at all. Separately, the FBI is soliciting bids for an $88 million contract to buy new servers and computing hardware, and to bring Google's Gemini model in-house under a flexible licensing deal rather than a per-seat subscription.

Why it matters: Both agencies deal directly with the public in high-stakes ways: SSA sends benefit checks to tens of millions of Americans, and the FBI runs investigations. SSA's own request flags the tension: how to move fast on AI while keeping accountability, transparency, and public trust. Meanwhile, GSA's discounted OneGov deals that gave federal workers cheap AI access are expiring, and Gartner projects agentic AI inference costs will jump more than fivefold in two years, just as agencies commit to bigger AI buildouts.

How it works, plainly: A request for information is a formal way for the government to gather ideas from outside experts before it writes policy or spends money. SSA is asking about talent pipelines, infrastructure, training and governance, not committing to anything yet. The FBI's approach is more concrete: it's using a multi-award IDIQ contract, a flexible purchasing vehicle, to buy hardware and to run Gemini on its own servers under a capacity-based license, letting it shift between AI models without extra fees each time.

The rollout: SSA is taking public comments through Sept. 28 before shaping its agentic AI approach; today it has just one agentic use case in pre-deployment, aimed at speeding up software development. The FBI's contract window opens Sept. 1, with two to four vendors expected to be chosen from proposals due within days. The bureau already has more than 100 approved AI use cases, roughly doubling each of the past two years, and its AI chief has publicly admitted the technology's price is currently a little steep.

The whole pictureEvery story cuts both ways. Here's this one.
The upside
  • Both agencies are seeking outside input or flexible contracts before locking in agentic AI, leaving room to correct course on governance.
  • FBI's capacity-based Gemini licensing could give it more control over sensitive case data than a typical per-seat cloud subscription.
  • SSA's RFI explicitly names public trust and accountability as design goals for an agency that pays benefits directly to citizens.
The downside
  • Agentic AI inference costs are projected to more than quintuple in two years, just as cheaper OneGov-style discounts for federal AI access expire.
  • The FBI's own AI chief says current pricing is already a little steep, raising doubts about the long-term affordability of this expansion.
  • SSA has no agentic AI governance framework yet even as it plans to accelerate adoption, meaning oversight rules could trail actual deployment.
Our read:two agencies that touch millions of lives are scaling AI faster than they've figured out who pays for it or watches over it.
The ripple effect
Tech — more federal demand for servers and on-prem cloud licensing dealsSafety — FBI expanding AI compute raises questions about oversight of investigative useMoney — agentic AI costs are projected to more than quintuple within two yearsWork — agencies are hunting for AI talent through new hiring authorities
How this story was madeThis story was researched, written, illustrated and published by Nuaico's automated AI pipeline, with no human review before publication. Every source it drew from is linked below. Spotted an error? Email hello@nuaico.com and we'll fix it fast.
Sources
→ SSA seeks direction for new enterprise AI strategy (FedScoop)→ FBI plans to expand its AI infrastructure (FedScoop)

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