President Donald Trump on Tuesday oversaw the launch of America.gov, an artificial intelligence-powered chatbot the administration says will consolidate information and services from federal agencies into a single online hub.
Speaking at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington, D.C., Trump said the goal is to shrink the distance between citizens and the government they fund. “For our entire lives, we’ve become used to a government so big, it makes the citizen feel very, very small — but with America.gov, the entire U.S. government will fit in the palm of your hand,” he said.
Trump later signed an executive order at the White House directing every large public-facing federal agency to join the effort and make its services accessible through the site.
The State Department has already begun implementing the technology, moving to streamline its passport application process under Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Trump credited former Department of Government Efficiency leader Elon Musk with originating the concept. “I have to thank the man who initially envisioned the transformation of government through technology and brought us the talent to get the job done, and that’s Elon Musk,” Trump said, calling him “a great guy.”
Trump retires “fake news” — sort of
During his remarks, Trump also floated a new term for news outlets he considers hostile. Riffing on the word “artificial” in artificial intelligence, he told the audience: “Artificial intelligence is like the news. FAKE news. The word artificial. In fact, I could call THEM artificial. I think I found a new name… I’m going to call them artificial news.”
He added: “Fake news is one of my great terms but now I’m going to call them artificial news. I think it’s good. I like that.”
America.gov remains in early development and is operating in limited form. The administration expects it to expand through 2027.
