Federal AI Intelligence · U.S. Government AI Observatory

Federal AI landscape: executive briefing

Filtered: topic = Science; AI type = computer_vision; function = image_analysis

Generated 2026-10-12 18:26 UTCDataset: 2025 Federal Agency AI Use Case Inventory (individually reported use cases), Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Version 2025-inventory@62d5baa65fa3, processed 2026-10-11, rules 2026.10.1. Static snapshot.Applied filters: topic = Science; AI type = computer_vision; function = image_analysis · 23 records

Key findings

23 use-case records from 4 agencies: 3 deployed (13%), 3 pilots, 16 in development or acquisition, 1 retired, 0 with no stage reported.
0 records are designated high-impact; 0 of them (n/a) answered at least one minimum-practice question.
NASA, USDA, DOI report 22 of 23 use cases (96%).
0% of reported deployed use cases (0 of 3) are classified as generative or agentic AI.
Sourcing is reported for 26% of use cases. Where reported, 83% involve in-house development.

Lifecycle

Stage	Records	Share
Deployed	3	13%
Pilot	3	13%
Pre-deployment	16	70%
Retired	1	4%

AI technology

Classification	Records	Share	Deployed
Computer vision	23	100%	3

Agencies

Agency	Records	Deployed	Completeness
NASA · National Aeronautics and Space Administration	14	2	64%
USDA · Department of Agriculture	4	0	69%
DOI · Department of the Interior	4	1	96%
DOJ · Department of Justice	1	0	58%

High-impact designation

Designation	Records
Not high-impact	23

Governance evidence: use cases designated high-impact

Practice	In place	In progress	Not in place	N/A or precluded	Other	No answer	In scope
Pre-deployment testing	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
AI impact assessment	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Independent review	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Ongoing monitoring	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Operator training	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Fail-safe	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Appeal process	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
User and public consultation	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

"In place" means the agency reported the practice as established. "No answer" means the field was blank; it says nothing about whether the practice exists.

Method

All figures are computed directly from the normalised inventory records. Category labels are normalised from the source answer options; original values are kept on each record. Governance answers are classified as in place, in progress, not in place, not applicable, precluded, waived, other or no answer, and blanks are never read as "no". See the Methodology page for full rules.

Limitations

Figures are what agencies reported in the 2025 inventory. They are not verified, and registration of use cases is not complete for every agency.
A blank answer is missing evidence, not evidence that a practice or safeguard is absent.
Counts are use-case records. A larger portfolio does not indicate better performance or greater AI maturity, and agencies differ in how they split systems into use cases.
The inventory has no budget, cost, accuracy or outcome data. None is shown or inferred here.
This is a disclosure analysis. It is not an audit, a compliance determination or an official government assessment.

Source records

All 23 records.

Record	Agency ID	Agency	Use case	Stage
R0175	NASA-244	NASA	SPOC (Soil Property and Object Classification)	Deployed
R0497	NASA-900	NASA	GLOBE Program - Image processing	Deployed
R2590	DOI-0173	DOI	Seabird and Marine Mammal Surveys Near Potential Renewable Energy Sites Offshore Central and Southern California [2024 INV#WO0000000107535]	Deployed
R0106	NASA-8	NASA	Deep Learning for Flood Mapping (DELTA)	Retired
R0178	NASA-256	NASA	Classification of features in Crew Earth Observations imagery	Pre-deployment
R0179	NASA-258	NASA	Cloud masks from Crew Earth Observations imagery	Pre-deployment
R0193	NASA-313	NASA	Estimation of Multilayered Cloud Properties from Geostationary Satellite Imager Data	Pre-deployment
R0208	NASA-340	NASA	Polar Nighttime Cloud Detection Using an Artificial Neural Network	Pre-deployment
R0211	NASA-349	NASA	Severe Storm Prediction via Overshooting Cloud Top and Above Anvil Cirrus Plume Image Recognition from Satellite Imager Data	Pre-deployment
R0213	NASA-359	NASA	Airplane detection	Pre-deployment
R0215	NASA-362	NASA	Deep Learning-based Hurricane Intensity Estimator	Pre-deployment
R0222	NASA-380	NASA	Ship detection	Pre-deployment
R0444	NASA-838	NASA	Ground-based Detection of Martian Dust Devils With a Fine-tuned Fast R-CNN	Pre-deployment
R0492	NASA-894	NASA	AI assisted Image recognition for EEE parts kitting and auditing	Pre-deployment
R0523	NASA-931	NASA	Lunar Rover Localization	Pre-deployment
R1340	USDA-038	USDA	Digital Imagery (no-change) for NRI Program	Pre-deployment
R1385	USDA-086	USDA	Wildlife Deterrent System	Pilot
R1393	USDA-095	USDA	Zen AI Image Analysis	Pre-deployment
R1459	USDA-161	USDA	Feral Ungulate Mitigation	Pre-deployment
R1714	DOJ-0289	DOJ	Image processing	Pre-deployment
R2501	DOI-0265	DOI	Bird Nest Detection [2024 Inv#WO0000000110506]	Pre-deployment
R2581	DOI-0182	DOI	Wave runup and total water level observations from time series imagery at several sites with varying nearshore morphologies [2024 INV#WO0000000108262]	Pilot
R2647	DOI-0113	DOI	Lake-wide monitoring and assessment of Great Lakes fisheries with autonomous vehicles and image analysis	Pilot

Prepared with Federal AI Intelligence by Irakli Petriashvili. Source: https://github.com/ombegov/2025-Federal-Agency-AI-Use-Case-Inventory