Since March last year The Department of Health and Human Services is using Palantir’s artificial intelligence tools to screen and audit grants, grant applications and job descriptions for noncompliance with President Donald Trump’s executive orders on “gender ideology” and anything related to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), according to recently published inventory all HHS AI utilize cases in 2025
Neither Palantir nor HHS has publicly announced that the company’s software was used for these purposes. In the first year of Trump’s second term Palantir made money over $35 million in payments and commitments from HHS alone. None of the descriptions of these deals mention work targeting DEI or “gender ideology.”
The audits are conducted at HHS’s Administration for Children and Families (ACF), which funds family and child welfare services and oversees the foster care and adoption systems. Palantir is the only contractor tasked with compiling a list of “job descriptions that may require adjustments to comply with recent executive orders.”
In addition to Palantir, Credal AI startup, which was founded by two Palantir graduates—Assisted ACF in auditing “existing grants and new grant applications.” The inventory claims its “AI-powered” grant review process “reviews the files that make up the proposals and generates preliminary flags and priorities for discussion.” All relevant information is then forwarded to the ACF Program Office for final review.
ACF staff ultimately review any job descriptions, grants and grant applications flagged by AI during the “final review” stage, according to the inventory. It also says that these specific AI utilize cases are currently “deployed” at ACF, meaning they are actively being used within the agency.
Last year, ACF paid Credal AI about $750,000 to provide the company with an “enterprise technology artificial intelligence (GenAI) generating platform,” but descriptions of the payments in the Federal Register make no mention of DEI or “gender ideology.”
HHS, ACF, Palantir and Credal AI did not respond to WIRED’s requests for comment.
Executive Orders –Executive Order No. 14151“End Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferences” and Executive Order No. 14168“Defending Women from Gender-Based Extremism” and “Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government” were both released on Trump’s first day in office last year.
The first of these orders demands the cessation of all policies, programs, contracts, and grants that mention or relate to DEIA, DEI, “equity,” or “environmental justice” and directs the Office of Management and Budget, the Office of Personnel Management, and the Attorney General to lead these efforts.
The second order requires that all “interpretation and application” of federal laws and policies define “sex” as an “immutable biological classification” and define the only sexes as “male” and “female.” He believes that “gender ideology” and “gender identity” are “false” and “detached from biological reality”. It also says that no federal funds can be used “to promote gender ideology.”
“Each agency will evaluate grant terms and recipient preferences and ensure that grant funds do not promote gender ideology,” it says.
The consequences of Executive Order 14151 targeting DEI and Executive Order 14168 targeting “gender ideology” have been deeply felt across the country over the past year.
The National Science Foundation began doing so early last year mark any studies that included DEI-related terms – including relatively broad terms such as “female,” “inclusion,” “systemic,” or “underrepresented” — and subject them to official review. The creation of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has begun rewind or pause studies that mentioned terms like “LGBT,” “transgender,” or “non-binary,” and stopped processing any data regarding transgender people. Last July, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration REMOVED a line of services for LGBTQ youth offered by the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.