According to a Bloomberg report, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) intends to develop and deploy its artificial intelligence (AI) bot in the style of ChatGPT to conduct open-source investigations.
Reportedly, the CIA intends to equip its analysts with the new AI tool to improve their access to open-source intelligence. This includes scouring public information for investigative leads.
Officials of the agency stated that they intend to implement the tool shortly. Randy Nixon, director of the CIA’s open source enterprise, told Bloomberg that the agency has transitioned from using newspapers and radio to newspapers and television, newspapers and cable television, rudimentary internet, and big data.
Critics have characterized the current methods by which the CIA processes available public data as “slow.” This development is a response to this criticism.
Bloomberg reported that the new tools will enable users to view the source of the information and include a messaging function.
“Then you can take it to the next level and start chatting and asking questions of the machines to give you answers, also sourced.”
Nixon stated that the CIA “closely follows” U.S. privacy law, but neither the model nor privacy protections for the new instrument were mentioned.
The instrument will reportedly be accessible to the 18 intelligence agencies that comprise the United States. This includes the CIA, the National Security Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and agencies administered by the military.
This announcement by the CIA follows recent confirmation of other government agencies’ use of artificial intelligence.
Gary Gensler, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chairman, confirmed to the U.S. Senate on September 12 that his agency uses artificial intelligence (AI) tools to monitor the finance industry for signs of fraud and manipulation.
In a July 17 speech, Gensler lauded the use of AI tools, stating that the SEC staff could benefit from a larger application of AI in “market surveillance, disclosure review, exams, enforcement, and economic analysis.”
