How is One of America's Biggest Spy Agencies Using AI? We're Suing to Find Out.

AI is nearly impossible for us to escape these days. Social media companies, schools, workplaces, and even dating apps are all trying to harness AI to remake their services and platforms, and AI can impact our lives in ways large and small. While many of these efforts are just getting underway — and often raise significant civil rights issues — you might be surprised to learn that America’s most prolific spy agency has for years been one of AI’s biggest adopters.

The National Security Agency (NSA) is the self-described leader among U.S. intelligence agencies racing to develop and deploy AI. It’s also the agency that sweeps up vast quantities of our phone calls, text messages, and internet communications as it conducts mass surveillance around the world. In recent years, AI has transformed many of the NSA’s daily operations: the agency uses AI tools to help gather information on foreign governments, augment human language processing, comb through networks for cybersecurity threats, and even monitor its own analysts as they do their jobs.

Unfortunately, that’s about all we know. As the NSA integrates AI into some of its most profound decisions, it’s left us in the dark about how it uses AI and what safeguards, if any, are in place to protect everyday Americans and others around the globe whose privacy hangs in the balance.

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