Estimated reading time: 8 minutes
When I was a kid, I was always fascinated by the thought of having a “robot dog.” Wouldn’t it be so cool to have something that functions the same way as a real dog, but with all the features that come with a robot? Of course, those dreams were dashed when I found out that, in reality, they have none of the charm that comes with real dogs. They may follow commands more dutifully than real dogs, but they will never have that soul, that fire a real dog does. And to top it all off, they lack any real sense of emotion.
Now we’re no strangers to the idea of “government watchdogs.” They exist to enforce the law and to make sure people comply with state orders. When handled properly, they can serve as a great way to preserve the peace. When handled incorrectly, they serve as a detriment to society at large and can actively harm it. But what if the government watchdog in question became a robot? What if we stripped it of a soul and replaced it with an unthinking and unfeeling AI? Where would that lead us?
Table of contents
The Rise of DOGE
In another timeline, such a thought may have been left up to a simple hypothetical at some point, but not anymore. If you live in the good ol’ US of A, you may have noticed that the interim government has created a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). DOGE was originally a meme. It was the image of a Shiba Inu named Kabosu. In 2013, an image of the good boy was put up on the internet. In typical internet fashion, Kabosu became immortalized as a meme.
Unlike other memes, however, which fade away as their popularity dies out, the Doge meme did not. It kept being propagated until it was picked up by crypto bros who made their own “meme coin.” The meme currency in question was dubbed “dogecoin.” Now, for a while, this currency remained a relatively speculative affair. It was a joke. That is, until a new player entered the field.
Enter Elon Reeve Musk
To understand DOGE and the way it works the way it does, we first need to do a little background check on Elon Musk. Musk is a South African billionaire. He has several businesses under his belt, including Tesla, SpaceX, and X (formerly Twitter). In 2021 (do make sure to keep that date in mind), he was named Forbes’s richest man. Before 2018, he was seen as one of the people everybody lauded. He was rich, and he was successful.
So, what do you give the man who has everything? Controversy, that’s what. In 2018, Musk came under fire for his spat with a British diver involved in a Thai cave rescue. This shed a spotlight on not just what he was doing in the moment but on any prior controversy he had. This included his marriages, of course. From here, Musk began to become a much more polarizing figure.
Since 2018, Musk has become one of the planet’s most vilified and hated men. The public hates him so much that they’ve begun to dub him “Muskrat.” It wasn’t just bad for him; it was bad for his companies. But when a public figure is met with controversy, they try to do everything in their power to win that support back, don’t they? In 2021, Musk did exactly that.
Fly Me to the Moon
Remember how I said that readers should keep 2021 in mind? This is why. This is where everything went wrong. In 2021, SpaceX announced that it would be launching a satellite to the moon, affectionately known as DOGE-1. The goal was to fund said satellite using Dogecoin. Because of this mission, Elon made the play to make DOGE a part of his brand image. He started wearing shirts with it. And he started to incorporate it into his internet persona. Of course, all of this was met with intense backlash. Coupled with his recent divorce, Elon did something even more drastic than what he usually did. He doubled down.
Enter Donald Trump
Being the current (as of 2025) and ex-president of the United States, we’re not going to bore you with a history lesson on Trump. However, what we will say is that he and Elon are no different. Both are billionaires and oligarchs at heart. After Elon bought out Twitter, he reinstated Trump’s account, promising that free speech was “back.” And in 2024, the two formed a cozy alliance. Elon wanted tax cuts for the 1% and a fair share of governmental control; for it, he would supply Trump with a healthy campaign. Trump, of course, wanted to win by any means necessary, so he accepted Elon’s offer. This alliance was one of the prevailing factors behind Trump’s re-election in 2024. It was also how we got DOGE as a governing body as well.
So, What Does DOGE Even Do?
The purpose of DOGE, at least according to Musk, is to cut back on “unnecessary” government spending. Whether that be through the reduction of jobs or the cutting of federal spending. Since its inception, one of the main things DOGE has been known for is the cutting of DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) jobs in the government. This, of course, has met plenty of backlash. Most of it comes from outside the government, but inside it as well. And to do this, they’ve been using a devious technology that has become a bit of a trend in recent years.
Robot Doge
A dog with a good nose can smell out anything that could be suspicious. A lot of dogs get trained to sniff out drugs, bombs, and, oftentimes, treats. Now, a robot dog can be trained to sniff out more than just physical objects. It can be trained to find digital objects. And in many ways, that seems to be exactly what DOGE seems to be doing. Using AI, DOGE’s main goal is to snoop and monitor federal employees’ affairs.
You may be wondering why they’re monitoring people in the government and not outside of it. That’s mostly because the government has all the necessary data on its employees. For an AI to work, it needs training. What better way to train it than to have it read the data of government employees and use that as the backbone of its research? Which brings us to the next bit of this story: What exactly is the government going to do with this information?
Crackdown
In George Orwell’s subliminal masterpiece, 1984, he describes a world ruled under the thumb of Big Brother. The country in 1984, Oceania, is run by a ruling force called the Party. The Party rules the country using propaganda and watches over its people using TV screens and cameras. The party would use all of this to crack down on anti-government sentiment and have people fall in line.
According to several sources from inside the White House, this is exactly what the US government plans on doing with DOGE. For a country that has always championed free speech and democratic values, this is a very bad look.
Coupled with this, Elon Musk has routinely been accused of being a Neo-Nazi. On the surface, that may seem like an empty accusation. But considering he performed what appeared to be a Nazi salute at a rally not long after Trump’s win, his case isn’t being helped.
Overall, it seems as if DOGE is a negative stain on the US government. Not only is it assuring in an authoritarian government. It is actively infringing on the rights of the people of the US. As of the time of writing, we have only seen the first 100 or so days of Trump’s presidency. The impact of DOGE will only continue to make waves. However, for the time being, Musk has stepped back from governmental duties to focus on his companies, which have been heavily impacted by his government stint. Visit Inside Tech World for more reviews, tips, and reader guides updated weekly!
FAQs
- Does DOGE oversee all governmental bodies, or does it collaborate with them?
Doge actively collaborates with all facets of government that have to do with budgeting and technology. As of the time of writing, they have no say over foreign policy or the US military.
- Why is there so little information on DOGE?
The department is highly secretive about how it works. We’ve only seen some aspects of its impact, but we still do not know the full scale.
- How do they track success? What’s the measurement for making sure things are efficient?
DOGE tracks government spending through various reports. It is possible that to keep track of these reports, they have AI reading and summarizing them; however, that is mostly speculation.
- Has DOGE given any reports yet?
No, they have not. However, according to their website, they plan on doing so in the near future.
