FBI Director Kash Patel has explained the bureau’s major AI overhaul, which focuses on protecting children and stopping attacks.
Breitbart reported that Patel had penned an op-ed for Fox News titled “We brought the FBI out of the past and into the AI age.” In his op-ed, Patel shared that since his arrival, they’ve gradually upgraded the infrastructure to leverage AI to better protect the American people.
In the past year,” he wrote, “We have rebuilt and revamped the FBI’s infrastructure across the enterprise, helping the bureau achieve record-breaking results in crushing violent crime and defending the homeland, while providing historic transparency.”
According to Patel, under President Trump’s administration, the FBI identified and located 6,300 missing kids last year, a 30 percent increase. He revealed that the bureau also arrested 2,000 abusers as a result of the upgrades. These new improvements will also help the FBI better investigate AI and cryptocurrency scams that, according to the FBI’s 2025 Internet Crime Report, cost Americans nearly $21 billion last year, which is up 37 percent from the previous year.
For the first time in the agency’s 25-year history, the report also included a section on AI-related crimes, which included 22,364 complaints. The most common techniques criminals used included fake social profiles, voice clones, identification documents, and believable videos of victims’ loved ones.
By using AI systems, the FBI can identify and arrest more fraudsters, scammers, and drug traffickers who try to hide their identities. Patel added, “Through cooperative research and development agreements with the private sector, the FBI is advancing our deepfake detection systems in support of these investigations.”
“Equally important, AI is helping this FBI be more accountable to the taxpayer by applying it to business operations across the bureau and getting maximum value out of your money,” Patel said.
There has never been a better time to upgrade the FBI infrastructure than now. The AI industry is currently booming, with tech giants like Amazon and Meta expected to collectively spend over $700 on AI infrastructure in the country.
