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OMB M-25-21: minimum practices for high-impact AI

Federal agencies apply minimum practices to high-impact AI: pre-deployment testing, an AI impact assessment, ongoing monitoring, operator training, human oversight with a fail-safe where practicable, remedies or appeals, and consultation of end users, documented within 365 days

By Reviewed

From clause to evidenceThe chain from OMB M-25-21 §4(b) to its evidence record, in 6 steps; the text alternative lists them and the facts under the figure state each in full.ClauseOMB M-25-21M-25-21 §4Duty holderUS federalagenciesApplies from2025-04-03In forceArtefactUse-caseinventory entryLayersLayer 02Layer 03Layer 04Layer 05Evidence recordEvidence recordv1Same topic elsewhere: no crosswalk topic files this clause yetAs of 2026-09-24 · illustrative, not a claim of conformity From clause to evidenceThe chain from OMB M-25-21 §4(b) to its evidence record, in 6 steps; the text alternative lists them and the facts under the figure state each in full.ClauseOMB M-25-21 · M-25-21 §4Duty holderUS federal agenciesApplies from2025-04-03 · In forceArtefactUse-case inventory entryLayersLayer 02Layer 03Layer 04Layer 05Evidence recordEvidence record v1Same topic elsewhere: no crosswalk topicfiles this clause yetAs of 2026-09-24illustrative, not a claim of conformity
From clause to evidence Build the artefact, then file every output it produces as a record that names AIGE-OBL-USFED-OMB-M25-21. Drawn from chapter 08.
Text alternative
  • Clause: OMB M-25-21, M-25-21 §4.
  • Duty holder: US federal agencies.
  • Applies from: 2025-04-03, In force.
  • Artefact: Use-case inventory entry.
  • Layers: Layer 02, Layer 03, Layer 04, Layer 05.
  • Evidence record: Evidence record v1.
  • Record schema: Evidence record.
  • No crosswalk topic files this clause yet.
Id
AIGE-OBL-USFED-OMB-M25-21
Instrument
OMB Memorandum M-25-21 (federal use of AI) framework
Clause
M-25-21 §4(b)
In scope
US federal agencies (their AI vendors by contract)
Authority
OMB; agency Chief AI Officers
Applies from
In force · Issued 2025-04-03; practices documented within 365 days

The artefact that evidences it

Use-case inventory entry; pre-deployment test report; AI impact assessment; monitoring plan; appeal path.

Patterns that build it

No pattern in the catalogue names this clause on its "Maps to" line yet; the artefact above is the engineering answer.

Source

Chapter 08, section Federal law that already reaches AI, checked against its sources on the review date above.

Machine-readable

Cite this obligation

García Aibar, J. (2026). OMB M-25-21: minimum practices for high-impact AI (AIGE-OBL-USFED-OMB-M25-21). In AI Governance Engineering: The Thesis & Body of Knowledge (v0.5.0). https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22956197. https://aigovernanceengineer.com/obligations/aige-obl-usfed-omb-m25-21. CC BY 4.0

BibTeX

@misc{aige2026obligation,
  author       = {Jorge García Aibar},
  title        = {{OMB M-25-21: minimum practices for high-impact AI (AIGE-OBL-USFED-OMB-M25-21)}},
  howpublished = {In AI Governance Engineering: The Thesis \& Body of Knowledge},
  year         = {2026},
  version      = {0.5.0},
  doi          = {10.5281/zenodo.22956197},
  url          = {https://aigovernanceengineer.com/obligations/aige-obl-usfed-omb-m25-21},
  note         = {Version 0.5.0}
}