Jwan Khisro

J. Khisro (2025). Proceedings of the Association for Information Science and Technology, Vol. 62, pgs. 335-346

Abstract: Government agencies' use of AI has the capacity to improve and radically transform the essence of digital government. It is critical to avoid restrictive policies that constrain innovation or, conversely, insufficient regulation that could lead to social and ethical issues. However, the rapid deployment of AI in government has faced criticism for posing significant challenges to democracy, especially given the inherent governance issues. It is critical as it encompasses responsible and effective use to protect democratic values in government agencies' structures, processes, and practices. This study contributes to information science by exploring how federal agencies, in their compliance plans, are responding to the Management and Budget memorandum requirement for advancing AI governance, innovation, and risk management through a content analysis of 23 federal agencies' compliance plans. The conclusion indicated that government agencies predominantly advance AI governance, innovation, and risk management by focusing on control rather than transformative innovation.

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J. Khisro (2025). Proceedings of the 58th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences

Abstract: While AI has expanded across society, some sectors have been and need to be developed more than others. The literature on AI in digital government needs to be more robust and comprehensive. Therefore, a systematic literature review was done on 22 peer-reviewed articles. The review discusses AI in digital government from five perspectives: AI governance, decision and policy, citizen, ethical, and capabilities. Digital ambidexterity was used as a lens for analysis. The findings indicated that the literature on AI in digital government needs to be more balanced. Scholars also face obstacles, as prior research may not have identified all the opportunities and challenges of AI in digital government. This literature review reveals that there is a need to explore the balancing of AI risks and opportunities for digital government. The future calls for research into strategizing AI in digital government and going beyond using AI for automating existing activities.

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Khisro, J., & Fenlon, K. (2026). Government Information Quarterly, 43(2), 102130

Abstract: There is a dearth of research that provides robust empirical studies of policy implementation in the context of open science. In the United States, a series of Presidential Memoranda issued by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) lays much of the federal policy foundation for open science, including a requirement for equitable access to federally funded public research. Benefits from research results and scientific data are often constrained by barriers to access, creating inequities in knowledge sharing. Hence, equitable public access to research results is still lacking. This study provides an exploratory qualitative study of practical challenges, organizational tensions, and tradeoffs experienced by agency actors in U.S. federal agencies seeking to implement equitable public access. We contribute to further research towards advancing policy implementation in open science by offering insights into how U.S. federal agencies understand and implement equitable public access. Our study also contributes to the practice of implementing policy mandates regardless of political administrations by increasing government agency actors' awareness of four dimensions latent in the implementation process: striving with ambiguity, overcoming fragmentation, reducing disparity, and mitigating perplexity.

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