Tech leaders sound alarm over DOGE's AI firings, impact on American talent pipeline

rob dobi/Getty Images Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) keeps firing AI researchers -- and it's making the tech industry increasingly nervous about the American AI talent pipeline. On March 3, the long-rumored cuts to staff at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) finally landed. Multiple sources reported that 73 probationary employees were fired, many of whom worked on the CHIPS for America initiative, as anticipated. The CHIPS Act aims to ramp up chip development in the US. Also: OpenAI wants to trade gov't access to AI models for fewer regulations The firings follow related cuts at the National Science Foundation, where 170 employees working on AI-related projects were let go, though Axios reported NSF has reinstated 84 of those staffers. Last week, advocates and tech leaders responded to the firings with an open letter to Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick. The letter pointed out that NIST's focus on AI was initiated during Trump's fi ... Read full article.