GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2026

Status

Forthcoming

Abstract

The United States is accelerating toward a corruption crisis of its own making. In its race to rapidly acquire artificial intelligence (AI), current policy risks undermining longstanding procurement integrity safeguards. This article examines how AI increases traditional corruption risks and introduces new vulnerabilities that current oversight mechanisms are ill-equipped to address.

Recent federal AI policies have accelerated adoption while simultaneously narrowing regulatory oversight, effectively leaving “regulation by contract” as the primary—and profoundly inadequate—mechanism for embedding safeguards. The consequence of these policies is that the government is “buying blind,” acquiring AI technologies without adequate transparency, audit rights, or testing requirements. These acquisition-phase deficiencies will translate directly into operational risks as AI deployment expands. How the government acquires AI today determines the procurement integrity vulnerabilities it will inherit tomorrow.

This article offers practical recommendations to address these emerging threats, prioritizing those most feasible to implement. It also challenges the assumption driving current federal AI policy: that governance impedes innovation. As the article demonstrates, governance is crucial for sustainable innovation. It helps maintain fair, transparent markets and fosters the institutional trust necessary for long-term AI integration.

The window for establishing effective governance is closing. As procurement dependencies solidify and integrity risks become entrenched, reversing course will become exponentially harder.

GW Paper Series

2026-02

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