Can government employees use AI dictation?

Yes, if the agency has approved the tool. For government employees, the question is not whether dictation is allowed in general. It is whether the specific tool is an approved route for government information. In the United States, that means checking whether a cloud dictation service is in scope for FedRAMP and holds the authorization it needs. An on-device tool may avoid some of that review, but the agency still decides what it may be used for.

Approval depends on whether the tool is an approved cloud service

Federal law defines a FedRAMP authorization as a certification about a cloud computing product or service ¹. OMB's memorandum M-24-15 goes further for agencies. It says agencies must obtain and maintain a FedRAMP authorization when a cloud product or service falls within the scope of FedRAMP ².

So an agency that sends government speech to a cloud dictation service has to ask two questions. Is the service in scope? If so, does it hold an authorization at the right level? The scope is set by OMB and the agency, not by the vendor's marketing.

A FedRAMP authorization is not an endorsement. OMB says it is not an endorsement of a product or service ³. It records that the security assessment has been done. It does not show that the tool suits the work, or that its training and retention settings are right. The agency still has to decide those.

Agencies write generative AI rules under OMB guidance

Separate from cloud authorization, OMB's memorandum M-25-21 says agencies should develop a policy for acceptable use of generative AI within 270 days ⁴. The memo uses "should" for that deadline, so it is guidance to agencies rather than a rule for private companies. Its practical effect is that an agency employee should expect an approved list and a written acceptable-use rule. Do not assume that a tool which comes with the operating system is approved for government content.

Named bans show what agencies act on

Governments often act on named products. In 2024 the US House of Representatives barred staff from using Microsoft Copilot on government-issued devices ⁵. In 2025 Oklahoma's governor banned the DeepSeek app on all state-owned devices, citing security risks ⁶. Neither action decides whether dictation is allowed in general. They show that a named app can be barred even when the wider category is not.

It depends on the level of government, the device and the contract

• Federal agencies. The FedRAMP scope and the agency's own authorization to operate decide. The OMB memo sets the framework, and the agency applies it to each product.
• State and local governments. Our sources cover one state action, Oklahoma's device ban, and no general state rule for dictation. Check your state's IT security policy.
• Contractors. Contract terms and the agency's data rules apply to the work. We did not find a source that settles this for dictation, so ask the contracting officer.
• Devices. On a Mac, general Dictation is processed on the device and is not sent to Siri servers ⁷. That reduces the cloud question but does not remove the need for approval. On Windows, the speech settings can be set by policy, so an administrator can block online recognition ⁸.

On-device tools can avoid some cloud review. Yap, which we make, is an on-device dictation app for Mac and Windows, so it can be a candidate for review. It still needs the same approval as any other tool, including a check of its settings and network behavior before it handles government content.

What to do

1. Ask whether the tool is approved. Ask your agency's IT or security office whether the dictation tool is on the approved list, and whether any cloud service it uses is FedRAMP-authorized at the level the agency needs.
2. Use the approved route. Dictate government content only through the tool your agency has approved, and do not use a personal account for it.
3. Test an on-device option before approval. Ask the security team to check where speech is processed, for example by running the test in our guide to voice privacy with the network turned off.
4. Ask for a rule if none exists. If the agency has no written rule, ask for one. The 270-day period in OMB's memo is one example of a deadline to request.

For the wider picture, read our guide to dictation at work, enterprise and government policies. Our answers on whether your employer can see what you dictate and why companies ban AI notetakers cover the same approval questions in private companies. The glossary entry on on-device speech recognition explains where speech is processed.