DOGE’s ChatGPT-driven grant cuts put Asian American history at risk

Court depositions have exposed how ChatGPT became the tool for gutting more than $100 million in National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) grants, including projects on Asian American history in what scholars say are unconstitutional violations.

Latest developments: Deposition videos of two former DOGE employees, Justin Fox and Nate Cavanaugh, have gone viral online, drawing ridicule for their inability to account for their decisions. The government responded with an emergency motion Friday, warning that the attention had particularly exposed Fox, who failed to define diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in his deposition, to harassment and death threats. They asked Judge Colleen McMahon to order the videos taken down.

McMahon granted the request the same day. Plaintiff groups American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS), American Historical Association (AHA), Modern Language Association (MLA) and Authors Guild pushed back, arguing the depositions had never been designated confidential and that removal would deny the public access to important documentation of an agency that had largely operated outside public view. McMahon, however, was unmoved, replying “DENIED. See you Tuesday.”

About the case: The lawsuit originally filed on May 1, 2025, challenges whether DOGE’s cancellation of virtually every active NEH grant approved during the Biden administration was lawful. Fox and Cavanaugh, who came to DOGE from the private technology and finance sectors, identified grants for potential termination by feeding descriptions into ChatGPT and asking whether each related “at all to DEI.” The chatbot was instructed to answer in less than 120 characters, beginning with “Yes” or “No.” Some grants were cut even though NEH staff had concluded they did not conflict with Trump administration policies.

NEH Acting Chair Michael McDonald enabled the process by ceding authority in writing, telling Fox, “as you’ve made clear, it’s your decision on whether to discontinue funding any of the projects on this list.” But he noted in his deposition that he was unaware DOGE had relied on ChatGPT and would have kept Holocaust-related grants funded. Despite his objections, DOGE retained final say over the cuts. After the terminations, McDonald solicited a $10 million single-source award for the conservative Tikvah Fund, and a portion of the recovered funds was channeled toward the National Garden of American Heroes sculpture garden.

What this means: At least two grants with direct ties to the Asian American community have been flagged or terminated. According to the March 6 summary judgment filing, ChatGPT’s stated rationale for targeting one grant was that “the project uses historical research and Augmented Reality to showcase a demolished Chinatown, inviting reflection on the Asian American experience.” Separately, the original suit notes that a $207,000 NEH award to ACLS supporting three China Studies research fellowships running through 2027 was terminated last April, defunding a program selected through what NEH described as an “extremely competitive” peer review process.

ACLS President Joy Connolly said, “DOGE employees’ use of ChatGPT to identify ‘wasteful’ grants is perhaps the biggest advertisement for the need for humanities education, which builds skills in critical thinking.” Outsourcing such decisions to an AI chatbot with no historical knowledge or accountability threatens not only individual grants but systematically disadvantages communities whose histories have long struggled for recognition in mainstream historical narratives.

McMahon holds her hearing tomorrow on whether the deposition videos may be publicly restored.