The U.S. Internal Revenue Service is taking a "strategic pause" in its technology modernization investments to re-evaluate its operating approach in light of new artificial intelligence technologies, a senior IRS career technology official said Friday.

The agency will review a number of technology modernization initiatives that have been taken in recent years, including a new direct free filing system for tax returns that was launched last year under the Biden administration, the official told reporters.

The official said the IRS did not have a specific number of staff cuts in mind as a result of the technology pause, but said there would be an opportunity to "realign the workforce to those new ways of doing business."