The Digester

Court filings reveal the Trump advisory DOGE used ChatGPT to flag NEH grant proposals as DEI and canceled hundreds of awards, including a $349,000 HVAC grant for the High Point Museum, prompting a lawsuit by academic groups alleging constitutional violations.

Court documents show a Trump advisory called DOGE used ChatGPT to screen 1,163 NEH grant proposals and flagged 1,057 as related to DEI.
ChatGPT labeled a $349,000 High Point Museum HVAC grant as DEI, and the award was later terminated after the project had begun.
Scholarly groups sued, arguing DOGE violated the First Amendment and equal protection by canceling grants based on DEI criteria.
Evidence in filings indicates some canceled projects had little obvious DEI connection, including HVAC upgrades, AI ethics work, and immigrant history research.
NEH acting chairman said DOGE also aimed to cut funding for deficit reduction, and a DOGE staffer admitted the effort did not reduce the federal deficit.
DOGE was a short-lived Trump advisory that stopped operating as a centralized entity by November 2025, and some grant recipients were able to recoup partial funds via termination clauses.

ChatGPT flagged museum HVAC grant as DEI and DOGE cut the $349,000 award, court filings show

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