The AI ecosystem of the US State Department opens up vast opportunities for employing machine learning algorithms to advance American objectives in tech, in business diplomacy, and in influencing foreign audiences—including in countries that are of particular importance for Russian national interests. An analysis of the American experience appears relevant for Russian foreign policymaking and the work of specialized government agencies, writes Anna Velikaya.
Digital diplomacy refers to the interaction between foreign policy institutions and overseas audiences through digital technologies, aimed at promoting a country’s political, economic, technological, scientific, and cultural aims. In the case of the United States, the ends of American digital diplomacy include not only promoting a positive image of the country but also countering foreign adversaries—Russia, China, Iran, and Cuba. In this sense, American digital diplomacy incorporates a strategic communications component, which is characteristic of Western diplomacy more broadly.
One may speak of both traditional and digital American diplomacy undergoing militarization. It is no coincidence that the State Department works closely with the Pentagon, including when it comes the digital front in diversionary information operations (Military Information Support Operations, MISO) and psychological operations (PSYOPS). In 2024, for instance, diplomats and military personnel conducted joint hybrid operations exercises at Fort Liberty military base.
Artificial intelligence technologies are used by the United States to build a system of global technological and informational dominance. According to Jessica Brandt of the Brookings Institution, the use of AI can be viewed as part of the broader confrontation in the information sphere between democratic and authoritarian regimes.
Externally, the United States promotes the concept of digital solidarity, aimed at tying foreign countries to American technological solutions, including in the field of AI—primarily through the ChatGPT system. The White House openly declares the need for joint efforts to shape the international environment and implement advanced innovations: “Digital solidarity aligns U.S. national interests with those of our international partners through compatible approaches to technology governance, sustains strong partnerships with civil society and the private sector, and embraces cybersecurity resilience built on a diversity of products and services made by trusted technology vendors. It highlights the mutual support that the United States and its partners offer one another to counter and respond to malicious cyber operations, cybercrime, and other digital harms, and promotes cooperative efforts among states and civic actors to defend and advance human rights.”
The State Department’s AI Ecosystem
Today AI has been integrated throughout the US State Department, which employs 80,000 diplomats across its headquarters and 270 diplomatic missions in 180 countries. The Department also oversees more than 600 American cultural centres in over 140 countries worldwide, equipped—with private sector funding from companies such as Amazon, Chevron, and Coupang—with AI-enabled programmes. The State Department states that it has taken steps to ensure a consistent and unified approach to sharing AI models, code and data. In essence, a departmental AI ecosystem has been created.
In 2023, the State Department introduced its Enterprise AI Strategy—a comprehensive framework for integrating AI into US foreign policymaking. AI is viewed not as a replacement for humans, but as a tool for optimising information flows and freeing up human resources for more substantive work.
Three specialised bodies have been established within the State Department: the Enterprise Data and AI Council (EDAC), the AI Steering Committee (AISC) and the AI Security Centre. EDAC is responsible for strategic governance of AI policy and data standards and acts as the supervisory authority for AI governance. The AISC provides tactical decisions and guidance on responsible AI use. The AI Security Centre operates through an AI Communications and Training Working Group and other thematic working groups, focusing on identifying and mitigating risks associated with AI use.
To facilitate effective AI integration, new positions were introduced under Secretary of State Antony Blinken, including the Bureau of Information Resource Management (IRM) and the Information Technology Executive Council (ITEC). Dedicated AI leadership roles were also established: Chief Data and AI Officer (CDAO), Responsible AI Officer (RAIO) and Innovation Officer (CIO), responsible for internal coordination.
In 2023, the Department created the Cyberspace, Digital Connectivity and Related Technologies Fund, with funding of $150 million aimed at advancing American tech aims. The Fund “meets the need for faster and more flexible international assistance to counter immediate cyber threats, while building long-term, secure and resilient digital environments.”
Selected units of the State Department saw the introduction of a specialised GenAI chatbot, which established the framework for the development of StateChat—one of the first departmental GenAI solutions capable of processing sensitive but unclassified information. As of September 2025, StateChat had around 45,000 active users. It now contains diplomatic cables, style guides, manuals and mobile access capabilities. Dedicated platforms—AI.State and Data.State—have also been developed.
The Department uses the Content Commons digital asset management programme, and moreover, plans to integrate it with other departmental systems to automate AI-driven information retrieval, improve content search and provide intelligent verification and reuse capabilities.
To stimulate AI innovation, the Department launched the internal platform AI.state, offering staff access to tool libraries, training materials and case studies. Experience-sharing initiatives—such as regular AI sessions at US embassies—are conducted in parallel. An AI Resource Hub was also established for staff training.
Before the closure of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) under the State Department, AI was used to address socio-economic and humanitarian challenges. For example, a tuberculosis diagnostic project in India, led by Ambassador Eric Garcetti, utilised AI-enabled mobile devices to assist doctors in remote rural areas.
Experts stress the need for “anticipatory planning” in the context of rapid technological evolution and propose the development of systematic interaction between foreign policy institutions and AI developers.
The key areas of AI application in US digital diplomacy include: promoting US technological aims; monitoring foreign public sentiment; strategic communications; training of diplomats
Promoting American aims in tech
The US AI Action Plan adopted by the White House in July 2025 strives to promote AI solutions developed by American companies. Washington must facilitate the global deployment of American AI systems, computing infrastructure and standards: “America currently is the global leader on data center construction, computing hardware performance, and models. It is imperative that the United States leverage this advantage into an enduring global alliance, while preventing our adversaries from free-riding on our innovation and investment.”
The United States is working to export its AI solutions to allies and partners – in effect, creating an American-led AI alliance. Other countries are pressed to adopt US hardware, models, software, applications and standards. The Trump administration believes that widespread adoption of American technologies will prevent strategic competitors from attracting US allies through technological incentives.
The US is working on launching, within the framework of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, a programme of sectoral consortia for comprehensive AI export packages. It is important to note the efficiency of coordinated interagency cooperation between the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the State Department, the Economic Diplomacy Action Group, the United States Trade and Development Agency, the Export–Import Bank, and the International Development Finance Corporation.
What America’s developing tech diplomacy strategy for a global AI alliance seeks to accomplish is aligning incentives and policy levers to encourage key allies to implement additional AI safeguards and export controls throughout supply chains. The working group developing this plan includes representatives from the Departments of State, Commerce, Defence and Energy. This strategy aims to adopt extraterritorial export controls, preventing the transfer of American tech from allies to adversaries.
The Digital Connectivity and Cybersecurity Partnership enables the US to position itself as the preferred digital infrastructure partner while reducing risks from malicious cyberattacks. The United States also actively uses its positions in international telecommunications organisations to promote its aims in artificial intelligence.
Monitoring Foreign Public Sentiment
A key AI-based tool for analysing digital media and social networks within the State Department is the Northstar system. It enables diplomats to collect, analyse, translate and summarise current events within seconds. Developed in-house, Northstar uses advanced open-source AI models to translate articles from 100,000 media outlets in nearly 200 countries into over 100 languages. More than 100,000 diplomats and technical staff have access to the system.
The program’s deployment has significantly reduced the time required to search, translate and analyse foreign media and social media trends.
Northstar allows users to:
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Identify and classify dominant narratives about the US in foreign media;
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Rapidly detect sources of disinformation and adjust communication strategies;
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Analyse public sentiment in real time.
For example, in February 2024, when Senegalese President Macky Sall decided to postpone presidential elections from March to December, the State Department initiated a series of AI-generated social media posts aimed at reversing the decision. These posts performed 100 times better than non-AI-generated content, receiving 51,000 engagements, 2,600 comments and 1,046,484 views. Public reaction increased pressure on President Sall – opposition candidate Bassirou Faye later came to power.
AI contributes across the full spectrum of State Department communications, generating content on topics ranging from events defining the shape of politics to long-term narratives steering foreign perceptions of American society, culture and values.
Strategic Communications with Foreign Audiences
Through content strategies, sentiment analysis and publication timing optimisation, the State Department continuously refines its external engagement. Six State Department media hubs—in Miami, London, Brussels, Dubai, Johannesburg and Bangkok—play a significant role. In 2024, content from the Brussels media hub reached 17 million users across 69 US government social media accounts in 21 languages.
Within the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) operate the Office of Internet Freedom and the Open Technology Fund. Over the past seven years, this agency spent $100 million developing software solutions to bypass internet restrictions implemented by foreign governments and expand access to content containing favourable narratives pushed by US Government funded media sources.
AI-based audience measurement—particularly in BRICS+ countries and other developing states—provides US diplomats with detailed insights into attitudes towards emerging technologies, economic partnerships and international norms. Research topics include global perceptions of Russia, Russian public opinion on the conflict in Ukraine, views on the United States and China, and public opinion in US allied states regarding Ukraine, Russia and possible peace settlement scenarios. Flash polls were conducted among Russians following the Crocus City Hall terrorist attack and the incursion of Ukrainian forces into the Kursk region. “Importantly, the team conducted research to drive understanding of the best persuasive messaging frames to drive opposition toward Russia’s actions,” reads the State Department’s 2025 Comprehensive Annual Report on Public Diplomacy & International Broadcasting.
In June 2023, the US Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy held a public meeting on AI in diplomacy, featuring representatives of the State Department, research institutions and academia. The experience of the US Embassy in Guinea served as an example of utilizing AI in diplomacy. Press attaché Alexander Hunt presented empirical data indicating that the use of ChatGPT has significantly increased the efficiency of the press service. The effectiveness of AI is reflected in the concept of “human–machine co-authorship”: the algorithm performs up to 60% of routine operations, providing the initial structuring of the text, while final editing and analytical interpretation remain the responsibility of diplomats.
The State Department uses AI to generate headlines and captions, making social media content more engaging and relevant to audiences, which in turn leads to a significant increase in reach and engagement. AI is used to create high-quality, visually appealing content that resonates with audiences across various digital platforms. Through AI, the Department of State is able to communicate complex narratives that build trust and engage target audiences. Machine algorithms can analyse data to identify anti-American narratives, assess the effectiveness of communication strategies in real time, and provide automated translation and content adaptation for different audience segments.
Training Diplomats in the Use of AI
To support AI adoption, the Department of State offers both in-person and online training courses. These include courses like “Introduction to Generative AI,” “Train-the-AI-Trainer,” and a range of virtual seminars. The workshop series “Practical Application of AI in the Department” ran from November 2024 to May 2025, comprised 4,000 hours of instruction, and involved more than 500 staff members. Diplomats are granted free access to corporate training programmes.
AI has also been incorporated into certification programmes, including annual mandatory counterintelligence training and insider threat awareness courses. The State Department supports the establishment of AI working groups at headquarters and in overseas missions, encouraging them to develop specialised AI solutions. It has declared its intention to promote to critical posts those who have demonstrated operational excellence in designing, deploying and scaling AI systems under high-load conditions.
Special guidelines on the use of AI have been developed for diplomats. Staff working in public diplomacy undertake the PDO Tradecraft programme, focused on managing people and teams using AI. The course “Advocacy through the Media” was updated in autumn 2024 to incorporate the latest AI tools into practical exercises, enabling students to use StateChat to quickly convert lengthy briefing documents into concise messages and to analyse information using Northstar. Students are also trained to upload public speeches by specific officials (ambassadors or other representatives) into StateChat.
In addition, AI training has been integrated into “PD Foundations,” “Social Media Practitioners’ Workshop,” “Advanced Seminar for LE Staff,” and “Communicating Policy Effectively” courses.. At the Foreign Service Institute, mandatory courses on the responsible use of AI have been introduced to ensure diplomats develop the competencies required for safe and ethical interaction with AI systems.
In sum, The AI ecosystem of the State Department opens up vast opportunities for employing machine learning algorithms to advance American objectives in tech, in business diplomacy, and in influencing foreign audiences—including in countries that are of particular importance for Russian national interests. An analysis of the American experience appears relevant for Russian foreign policymaking and the work of specialized government agencies.
