America Is Building AI Into Government as New Security Controls Expand Agent Access

America.gov launched September 29 with an AI search tool drawing on information from more than 29,000 government websites.

Users can ask about federal programs and find services such as passport renewals and Social Security.

President Donald Trump also ordered agencies to connect heavily used online services to the site.

Existing digital forms, public APIs and dashboards can be connected, while Login.gov will handle identity checks where required. Passport renewals and Medicare enrollment are due to be added later this year.

Individual government records will remain with the agencies that hold them. IRS tax filing and services run by the Department of War and intelligence agencies are excluded.

America.gov Will Begin Connecting More Federal Services

Federal agencies now have to identify which of their online services qualify for America.gov and prepare them for integration.

The order covers public-facing services with more than 100,000 users over a 12-month period, provided they can already be accessed or applied for online. OMB has 90 days to issue agencies with instructions for carrying out the work.

Agencies will also send the General Services Administration and OMB usage and performance data for the services they identify. The requirement includes historical figures where those records are available.

Americans can continue using agency websites as the connections are made, or deal with the government by telephone, mail and in person. America.gov is being added as another route rather than replacing those options.

The White House says passport renewals and Medicare enrollment are expected on America.gov later this year.

It has not yet published how many other federal services will be connected or when each agency will complete its integration.

NVIDIA Is Restricting What AI Agents Can Access

NVIDIA released OpenShell 0.1.0 on September 28, giving developers control over which systems and data an AI agent can reach. Those permissions are enforced outside the agent rather than through its instructions.

OpenShell can block an outbound request that violates the permissions set for an agent. API credentials can be kept out of its workload, while additional network or file access can be held for review. An agent cannot approve its own request for more access by default.

Cadence is using OpenShell in chip design and Slack is building it into an on-demand agent platform. Gecko Robotics has taken the technology into robotics, where agents can make decisions involving physical machines.

The release came a day before Trump met technology executives in Washington and announced a voluntary agreement on AI safety. Signatories agreed to internal safeguards and independent reviews designed to prevent unauthorized actions.

The measures cover risks such as unintended hacking and access to computer systems, but the agreement is not federal regulation.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll found that 73% of Americans believed AI companies had not done enough to ensure the technology was safe.

Trump Has Ordered the Executive Branch to Call AI “SI”

Trump directed executive departments and agencies on September 29 to replace “Artificial Intelligence” and “AI” with “Super Intelligence” and “SI” in official communications where legally permitted.

Agencies can use the terminology on websites, in correspondence and reports without changing language already set by Congress.

Regulations issued before the order can keep their existing wording, as can contracts, grants and earlier presidential actions.

When agencies use Super Intelligence, they will rely on the definition of artificial intelligence already established under federal law.

The White House science adviser has 60 days to prepare proposed legislation defining Super Intelligence and recommend whether existing statutory references should be amended. Any amendments would have to pass Congress.

Government AI Is Moving From Answers to Authorized Action

America.gov is expected to take on transactions that people now complete through individual federal agencies.

That work can involve personal records and requests that require a user to prove who they are before proceeding.

Agencies will continue setting the permissions around their own systems as those connections are added.

An AI agent acting for a user would operate within the access granted for that task, rather than receiving unrestricted entry to agency data.

As transactional services reach America.gov, the federal government will have a live test of AI carrying out authorized tasks for the public while the underlying records remain with individual agencies.