The US government is turning to artificial intelligence to handle a tedious but consequential task: redacting documents requested under the Freedom of Information Act. According to GitHub documents seen by The Washington Post, US Customs and Border Protection, part of the Department of Homeland Security, will use Google's AI tools to recommend information that FOIA officers should black out. The DHS expects to apply the system by the end of September to documents representing more than 10 percent of FOIA requests, or roughly 100,000 to 140,000 cases.
Human reviewers will still have the final say. The DHS says employees will review the AI's recommendations to ensure the requester receives what the document calls 'accurate and complete' information, and the agency claims the automation 'is expected to significantly reduce processing times.' Similar efforts are already underway elsewhere: the Interior Department uses Microsoft tools to redact attorney-client material, the Justice Department uses a Veriton tool called aiWARE for video redaction, and the Health and Human Services division is developing its own tool, FRED.
Not everyone is reassured. A FOIA expert at the University of Florida told The Washington Post that the government's use of AI for redactions deserves close scrutiny, calling it 'a very powerful tool for secrecy.' The concern is that automated systems, however efficient, may err on the side of over-redaction, leaving the public with fewer documents than the law intends.