Tulsi Gabbard, director of US national intelligence, revealed that he relies on artificial intelligence (AI) to determine which secrets are classified, which are classified, and which secrets are published in the John F. Kennedy Assassination file.
Speaking at the Amazon Web Services Conference in Washington, DC, Tulsi Gabbard explained how AI has significantly accelerated reviews of the roughly 80,000 pages of government documents released earlier this year.
The role of AI in unlocking JFK files
Tarsi Gabbard's office, on orders from President Donald Trump, has released tens of thousands of pages of material related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and his brother, New York Sen. Robert F. Kennedy.
According to Gabbard, the JFK assassination file contained a huge amount of documentation. Gabbard said the intelligence agency sometimes makes her annoyed and challenged her as a member of Congress.
Tulsi Gabbard revealed that the documents were fed to an AI program tasked with flagging sensitive information that ensures content analysis and continued confidentiality.
“We were able to do that by using AI tools much faster than what was done before. This was to let humans go through and look at all of these pages,” she said.
The intelligence community already relies on many private sector technologies, and Gabbard said he wants to expand its relationship rather than using federal resources to create expensive alternatives.
“How can we look at the available tools that exist (mainly the private sector) so that intelligence experts, both collectors and analysts, can focus their time and energy on what they can do,” she said.
Accepting AI in controversy
The admission to Tulsi Gabbard comes with growing debate over the use of AI in sensitive government work.
Critics raised concerns about the reliability and ethical implications of AI, particularly when it comes to processing classified information.
Nevertheless, Tulsi Gabbard is a powerful advocate for leveraging AI to modernize intelligence tasks, and such tools allow analysts to focus on tasks that require human judgment.
What did the JFK file reveal?
The recent JFK assassination file released by the Trump administration has not revealed any major new secrets or bombs.
The documents provide additional insight into how the CIA monitored Lee Harvey Oswald before the assassination, but they primarily reaffirm the long-standing conclusion that Oswald acted alone.
The file also contains sensitive personal information, causing privacy concerns.
A new era for transparency in intelligence
Although the JFK file did not reveal the secrets of shattering the earth, the AI-assisted review process represents a major step forward in government transparency and efficiency.
Since taking on her role this year, Tulsi Gabbard has created a new task force to consider changing the agency's operations and greater confidentiality. She also recognized her opposition to Donald Trump and fired two veteran intelligence agents for relocating staff who would eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs and give them more direct control to prepare a daily overview of the president.
