US gov't allegedly uses AI to scan internal messages for Trump criticism
Government employees in the US have been warned that the government is using AI to search for criticism in internal communication channels, according to a report
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At least some civil servants in the USA have been told by the new government that AI technology is being used to search internal communication channels for criticism of Donald Trump and his agenda. This was reported by the news agency Reuters, citing several anonymous sources. It was not possible to verify whether such technology is actually used as described, and inquiries were not answered. Meanwhile, Reuters has received further evidence of questionable practices. For example, the crypto messenger Signal is also said to be used extensively by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), just like Google Docs for working on documents.
Control of teams & co.
The fact that Musk's department relies extensively on AI technology to supposedly reduce bureaucracy is nothing new. According to previous reports, however, the main aim was to identify potential savings and automate manual work. If this were actually to be used internally to monitor opinions, that would be something else. According to the report, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is affected, with two thirds of its budget to be cut. Some high-ranking employees have been told that Elon Musk's team is introducing an AI there to search for criticism not only of Donald Trump, but also of Musk himself. Chats in Microsoft Teams, for example, would be monitored.
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After the report was published, the EPO admitted, according to Reuters, that AI was being used to optimize work and make it more effective. It did not respond to the question of whether employees were being monitored. According to the news agency's sources, the technology is also used to find employees whose work does not fit in with the government's goals. One manager told his employees to "be careful what you say, what you write and what you do." Musk repeatedly presents himself as an advocate of absolute freedom of expression, and not just on his short message service X.
According to the report, the widespread use of Signal at DOGE adds to the at least problematic use of AI by US authorities. The messenger has been the focus of US public attention for days because secret information was exchanged within the government. It is unclear whether this is also the case with DOGE, but it would also be against the law if the self-deleting messages were used to circumvent archiving requirements. According to Reuters, there is also criticism of the fact that DOGE employees work on documents simultaneously via Google Docs instead of developing them further using the more cumbersome method of individual copies.
(mho)
