A 2017 report by the Inspector General for the National Science Foundation also found ethics concerns and recommended that the foundation “take corrective actions to strengthen controls over IPA conflicts of interests, including reassess controls to ensure staff do not have access to awards and proposals for which they are conflicted.”

In a statement, FAS said that “we have strict policies in place to ensure the integrity and independence of the process by mandating a firewall between our 20+ philanthropic funders, including Schmidt Futures, and the federal agencies that solely determine roles and talent placements.”

FAS added that “it is proud to continue the long-standing tradition of supporting federal agencies in finding world-class talent for their critical needs.”

Schmidt’s collaboration with FAS is only a part of his broader advocacy for the U.S. government to invest more in technology and particularly in AI, positions he advanced as chair of the federal National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence from 2018 to 2021.

The commission’s final report recommended that the government spend $40 billion to “expand and democratize federal AI research and development” and suggested more may be needed.

“If anything, this report underplays the investments America will need to make,” the report stated.

Schmidt’s intense support for AI dovetails with some of his personal business and philanthropic efforts, which has put him in the crosshairs of watchdog organizations and, most recently, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), as CNBC reported in December.

“Eric Schmidt appears to be systematically abusing this little-known set of programs to exert his influence in the federal government,” said Katie Paul, the director of the Tech Transparency Project which published a report Tuesday on Schmidt and the IPA program. “The question is, on whose behalf is it? Google, where he’s still a major shareholder? Is it to advance his own portfolio of investments–artificial intelligence and bioengineering or energy? The public has a right to know who is paying their public servants and why.”

Schmidt has argued that he is not motivated by making money but rather a sincere conviction that the 21st century will largely be defined by which countries have the most advanced artificial intelligence capabilities.

“AI promises to transform all realms of human experience,” he wrote in a 2021 book with former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and MIT’s Daniel Huttenlocher titled “The Age of AI: And Our Human Future.”

“Other countries have made AI a national project. The United States has not yet, as a nation, systematically explored its scope, studied its implications, or begun the process of reconciling with it,” they wrote. “If the United States and its allies recoil before the implications of these capabilities and halt progress on them, the result would not be a more peaceful world.”

As a result, Schmidt has become increasingly involved with the Pentagon in recent years. Schmidt chaired the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Board from 2016 to 2020. He is also an investor in and sits on the board of the AI-focused defense contractor Rebellion Defense which has won a number of contracts from the Biden Pentagon. Two officials from Rebellion Defense also served on Biden’s transition team. Rebellion also recently hired David Recordon, the director of technology at the White House science office, to be the chief technology director at Rebellion.

In 2018, the then-chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), nominated Schmidt to the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence. After it wound down, Schmidt launched a private sector group called the Special Competitive Studies Project to continue the work of developing AI policy and hired over a dozen of the commission’s staffers, CNBC reported. Thornberry, who has since retired, is on the board.

Thornberry did not respond to a request for comment.

Schmidt Futures also supplied a grant to FAS and the Day One Project to “shape the establishment of a congressional commission to examine the relevance of the [Department of Defense] Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution (PPBE) system and its associated resource allocation processes,” according to FAS.

Beyond military applications, Schmidt also has argued that AI is critical to economic power, from software to pharmaceuticals.

Schmidt’s quiet funding of positions in the Biden administration first came to light in the aftermath of the resignation of Eric Lander — Schmidt’s friend and close ally — as the head of the White House science office early this year. The resignation came after POLITICO reported that a White House investigation found Lander had bullied employees — at least one of whom had sought to raise ethical questions about the acceptance of Schmidt-linked money.