AI is making it very easy for the government to spy on you. Some lawmakers are worried. [View all]

The long-running fight to rein in the government’s power to search Americans’ phone calls, emails and text messages without a warrant has gained new urgency on Capitol Hill over concerns that AI will supercharge state surveillance.

Privacy advocates warn that if the law enabling warrantless monitoring of Americans is not meaningfully reformed, many citizens could be subject to increasingly invasive AI-powered analysis of communications swept up by foreign intelligence programs as well as commercially available location and behavioral data.

“Imagine instead of doing a query with one person that you turned AI loose on these databases,” Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., said Thursday at a press conference announcing a new bill to close data-collection loopholes. “There’s virtually nothing the government can’t know about you.”

Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) allows the government to collect the communications of foreigners abroad, but it also enables the government to collect messages, emails and other transmissions from Americans when they contact foreigners. The government can then perform warrantless searches on those emails, messages and other communications. Though the provision was originally passed in 2008, lawmakers must renew it every few years.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/ai-making-very-easy-government-111500084.html