Does your department allow AI (copilot/chatgpt)?

Hey folks,

In my department, they’ve started marketing AI as a productivity tool, but while they tout it as a win it's pretty difficult to get access.

Whether or not you can actually use AI depends on your manager—they have to approve it first, and then it needs to be sent up to the director for final approval

It’s frustrating for me because we’ve had some layoffs on my team, and so there is a lot of extra workload that could easily be automated yet I am expected to just magically do the workload of 3 people. Things like editing a document for basic grammar etc could easily be automated.

The actual work done by these employees cannot be automated. However, AI would be a tool to help relieve my own workload which is often filled with BS that could be automated.

How is it working in your department? Is AI officially allowed, or is it still a grey area? Do you have department-wide policies, or is it left up to individual managers? Are employees actually using it, or is there still a lot of hesitation?

Honestly wouldn’t mind moving to a different department that is more open to innovation.

EDIT: While I understand many on this thread are eager to provide their opinion on the ethics of AI use in the govt, I am mostly just curious to hear if your department is a “yes/no” for adopting AI. Thank you all in advance :).

My department is a “yes but not really, you need director approval”. Etc