US government plans to use AI to help redact FOIA documents

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) plans to bring artificial intelligence into the process of redacting documents released under the Freedom of Information Act. The Washington Post reported the move based on documents it reviewed on GitHub. US Customs and Border Protection, which is part of DHS, will use Google's AI tools to recommend which information FOIA officers should black out.

Scale and oversight

By the end of September, DHS expects to apply AI to documents that account for more than 10 percent of its FOIA requests, roughly 100,000 to 140,000 files in total. The agency's own description states that "this automation is expected to significantly reduce processing times." After the AI makes its recommendations, DHS employees will still review each case to make sure the requester receives what the documents call "accurate and complete" information, a phrase whose meaning is complicated by the redactions themselves.

Tools at other agencies

The Post also found redaction-related AI tools in use or in development across several agencies. The Interior Department relies on Microsoft tools to redact material that may fall under attorney-client privilege, while the Department of Justice uses a Veriton product called aiWARE to redact video. The Department of Health and Human Services is developing its own tool, FRED, to remove unknown information. "FDA is responsibly exploring limited uses of AI to help FOIA staff process records more efficiently," a spokesperson told the paper.

Concerns about secrecy

Redaction has drawn unusual public attention since the Justice Department released the Epstein case files, in which large amounts of text were blacked out across millions of documents. The government presents automation as a way to save time, but critics warn it could produce even more heavily redacted or missing documents. "I think we have to watch the government really carefully on how they use AI to redact records, because I think it's going to be a very powerful tool for secrecy," a FOIA expert at the University of Florida told The Washington Post.