{"slug": "commerce-official-warns-of-obsolescence-without-ai-adoption", "title": "Commerce official warns of obsolescence without AI adoption", "summary": "Department of Commerce Senior Advisor for Technology and Strategy Matheus Passos said the real risk of artificial intelligence is not job replacement but the potential for organizations to fall behind if they don't adopt the technology, speaking at GovExec's Infrastructure and Modernization Forum on Thursday. Passos highlighted the agency's in-house AI Integrated Product Team, which guides AI implementation, and cited the U.S. Census as a mission that could be affected by AI adoption. Commerce's efforts follow an April release of a 10-year, $4.1 billion cloud computing blanket purchase agreement with hyperscale providers.", "body_md": "# Commerce official warns of obsolescence without AI adoption\n\n## Job replacement due to AI is less of a threat than falling behind due to lack of adoption, Senior Advisor for Technology and Strategy Matheus Passos said.\n\nThe real risk of using artificial intelligence is not in its potential to replace human employees, but rather the potential for organizations to fall behind if they don’t strategically use the emerging capabilities, according to Department of Commerce Senior Advisor for Technology and Strategy Matheus Passos.\n\nSpeaking during GovExec’s Infrastructure and Modernization Forum on Thursday, Passos said the concern surrounding AI shouldn’t be its risk to the workforce, but in the opportunity cost for an organization to not adopt the right technology.\n\n“The point that was brought up … wasn't whether people will become obsolete, but whether entities, organizations will become obsolete if they don't embrace AI as a whole,” he said. “The point that was driven home was that the future of AI belongs to those that will believe in it and who actually invest in it and exercise it and accept it.”\n\nPassos said the work Commerce’s in-house AI Integrated Product Team does also helps to guide the effective implementation of the right AI for different missions within the agency. The IPT, which features members from both the IT and business communities, offers guidance for how to approach AI adoption.\n\nHe used the U.S. Census as an example of one deliverable under Commerce’s purview that could be helped or hindered by AI.\n\n“We made sure we had people that had a voice and that had the ability to say, ‘Hey, if we go this direction, I can't deliver on the Census in 2030.’ And then we went: ‘Okay, hold on. Let's talk about this.’ So we do. We have a community, and they meet every week, and we escalate and we put out products on a weekly basis,” Passos said.\n\nCommerce’s strategic approach to leveraging AI across its operations follows an [April release](https://www.nextgov.com/acquisition/2026/04/commerce-goes-direct-hyperscalers-41b-cloud-bpa/413105/) of a 10-year, $4.1 billion blanket purchase agreement for cloud computing aimed at hyperscale providers.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/commerce-official-warns-of-obsolescence-without-ai-adoption", "canonical_source": "https://www.nextgov.com/artificial-intelligence/2026/08/commerce-official-warns-obsolescence-without-ai-adoption/415678/", "published_at": "2026-08-27 20:04:00+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-08-27 20:20:40.040449+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-policy"], "entities": ["Department of Commerce", "Matheus Passos", "GovExec", "U.S. Census", "AI Integrated Product Team"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/commerce-official-warns-of-obsolescence-without-ai-adoption", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/commerce-official-warns-of-obsolescence-without-ai-adoption.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/commerce-official-warns-of-obsolescence-without-ai-adoption.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/commerce-official-warns-of-obsolescence-without-ai-adoption.jsonld"}}