Lawsuit documents reveal two employees from the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) used OpenAI's ChatGPT to identify National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) grants for termination.
Staffers fed grant titles into the AI model to determine if projects related to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). The administration then used AI-generated "Yes/No" responses to target previously approved grants for cancellation.
This process supported a broader effort to reshape NEH priorities and eliminate funding for projects deemed inconsistent with the administration's agenda.
Several humanities organizations have filed lawsuits to reverse the cancellations. These legal challenges argue the AI-driven process was illegal and exceeded the administration's authority.