https://www.newsweek.com/kash-patel-reveals-fbi-ai-national-security-project-11250208
FBI Director Kash Patel has revealed the FBI has been working on an artificial intelligence (AI) project that will assist the agency in its national security mission.
“These are investments that will pay dividends for America’s national security for decades to come,” Patel wrote on X.
The FBI said it didn’t have anything to add to Patel’s social media post in response to a Newsweek request for comment by email.
Why It Matters
The Trump administration has openly embraced AI as the future of America, with President Donald Trump signing an executive order in April that directed the administration to establish the Presidential AI Challenge.
Since then the administration has not only handed First Lady Melania Trump a role leading the initiative to build interest and expertise in AI, but in September the administration signed a deal with Elon Musk’s xAI to allow the integration of the Grok AI chatbot with federal agencies.
The president has also made extensive use of AI-generated imagery and videos while posting on Truth Social, including a now-famous video of himself piloting a fighter jet over protesters and dropping brown sludge on them.
What To Know
Patel revealed the FBI’s new direction in a post on X, saying AI will be a key component of how the agency uses “key technology advances to keep us ahead of the game and respond to an always changing threat environment both domestically and on the world stage.”
“Artificial Intelligence is a key component of this,” Patel wrote. “We’ve been working on an AI project to assist our investigators and analysts in the national security space – staying ahead of bad actors and adversaries who seek to do us harm.”
“FBI leadership implemented a technology working group led by [FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino] to ensure our technology tools evolve with the mission,” Patel added. “These are investments that will pay dividends for America’s national security for decades to come.”
Patel provided no further details of the project, and Bongino recently announced that he would be leaving his post in January, making it unclear who will take the lead on this project after his departure.
What People Are Saying
Director of the White House of Science and Technology Policy Michael Kratsios during a Fox News interview earlier this year, in part: “Wherever you go in your professional career, whether you want to be a doctor, whether you want to be a lawyer, whether you want to work in law enforcement, you will be leveraging these tools in the future.”
xAI co-founder Ross Nordeen, in a GSA press release in September: “We will work hand in glove with the entire government to not only deploy AI, but to deeply understand the needs of our government to make America the world leader in advanced use of AI.”
