US agencies must pay a fee to use the USAi AI platform

The US General Services Administration (GSA) charges agencies for USAi, its shared AI platform, where agencies can try AI models. USAi started in August 2025 at no cost. Last month GSA added a platform fee plus use costs. Ryan Palmer, the AI architecture lead, told a webinar that USAi saves agencies months of approval and trial work.

How it works

Palmer said GSA does the purchase and test work one time for all agencies. Agency teams can then start to use AI fast. Palmer also works on standard designs and deals with vendors.

The numbers

GSA gave no fee price and no figure for the time it saves. Palmer said only that it saves months. Palmer said cloud work at agencies took decades.

What is not known

Palmer did not speak directly about the new price. Palmer said GSA wants to give agencies the OneGov savings, but gave no more information. It is not known how many agencies will pay.

Insight: A shared AI platform sells the work that cuts remove

GSA charges for USAi and sells it as the work of purchase, test and shared monitor. In October 2026, Rudolf Rojas of the US Department of Agriculture said cuts removed the resources to have a person check AI tasks. This seems to be a bet that agencies with less staff will pay GSA to do work they cannot do. Look at the items that the fee covers.