HHS Utilizes Palantir’s AI Tools to Focus on ‘Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion’ and ‘Gender Ideology’ in Funding Applications

Since last March, the Department of Health and Human Services has implemented AI tools from Palantir to evaluate and audit grants, grant applications, and job descriptions for compliance with President Donald Trump’s executive orders aimed at “gender ideology” and issues related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), as detailed in a recently released inventory of HHS’s AI use cases projected for 2025.

Neither Palantir nor HHS have made public announcements regarding the application of the company’s software for these purposes. In the first year of Trump’s second term, Palantir received over $35 million in payments and obligations from HHS, with none of the transaction descriptions referencing efforts concerning DEI or “gender ideology.”

The audits are conducted by HHS’s Administration for Children and Families (ACF), which supports family and child welfare and manages the foster care and adoption systems. Palantir is the exclusive contractor responsible for compiling a list of “position descriptions that may need to be adjusted for alignment with recent executive orders.”

Alongside Palantir, the startup Credal AI—founded by two former Palantir employees—assisted ACF in auditing both “existing grants and new grant applications.” The inventory states that the “AI-based” grant review process “assesses application submission files and generates initial flags and priorities for discussions.” All pertinent information is forwarded to the ACF Program Office for a final review.

Ultimately, ACF staffers evaluate all job descriptions, grants, and grant applications flagged by AI during a “final review” phase, according to the inventory. It notes that these specific AI applications are presently “deployed” within ACF, indicating they are actively utilized within the agency.

Last year, ACF compensated Credal AI approximately $750,000 for its “Tech Enterprise Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) Platform,” although the payment descriptions in the Federal Register do not reference DEI or “gender ideology.”

HHS, ACF, Palantir, and Credal AI did not respond to WIRED’s requests for comment.

The executive orders—Executive Order 14151, “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing,” and Executive Order 14168, “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government”—were both signed on Trump’s first day in office last year.

The first order mandates the termination of any policies, programs, contracts, or grants that mention or relate to DEIA, DEI, “equity,” or “environmental justice,” assigning responsibility for these actions to the Office of Management and Budget, the Office of Personnel Management, and the attorney general.

The second order specifies that all “interpretation of and application” of federal laws and policies must define “sex” as an “immutable biological classification,” recognizing only “male” and “female” genders. It declares “gender ideology” and “gender identity” to be “false” and “disconnected from biological reality,” stating that no federal funds may be allocated to “promote gender ideology.”

“Each agency shall assess grant conditions and grantee preferences and ensure grant funds do not promote gender ideology,” it states.

The implications of Executive Order 14151, which scrutinizes DEI, and Executive Order 14168, targeting “gender ideology,” have been profoundly felt across the nation in the past year.

Early last year, the National Science Foundation began flagging any research containing DEI-related terms—including broad terms such as “female,” “inclusion,” “systemic,” or “underrepresented”—and subjected it to official review. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention initiated the retraction or suspension of research mentioning terms like “LGBT,” “transsexual,” or “nonbinary,” and ceased processing data associated with transgender individuals. Last July, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration eliminated an LGBTQ youth service line previously offered by the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.