The Government Will Use AI to Help Black Out Parts of Public Records
U.S. Customs and Border Protection will use Google's AI tools to suggest what to black out in public records responses.
CBP, part of the Department of Homeland Security, is using the system for Freedom of Information Act requests. That is the law that lets anyone ask the federal government for records. To redact means to black out sensitive parts before sharing them. DHS planned by the end of September to use AI for documents making up over 10 percent of FOIA requests, totaling around 100,000 to 140,000, according to Engadget. DHS separately described the effort as a way to streamline the identification and redaction of sensitive content when responding to FOIA requests, as reported by The Washington Post.
A person still makes the final call. DHS says employees will review AI redaction recommendations to ensure requesters receive "accurate and complete" information. DHS says the automation is expected to significantly reduce FOIA processing times. Think of the AI as a highlighter that marks possible blackouts for a person to check.
CBP is not operating in isolation. The Interior Department uses Microsoft tools to redact potential attorney-client information, meaning private legal advice. The Justice Department uses Veritone's aiWARE tool to redact video. The Department of Health and Human Services is developing its own tool called FRED to redact information. An FDA spokesperson said FDA is responsibly exploring limited uses of AI to help FOIA staff process records more efficiently.
A longer FOIA technology pipeline
The current systems follow several years of work on FOIA technology inside the Justice Department. The mission of the DOJ Office of Information Policy is to encourage and oversee agency compliance with the Freedom of Information Act. The office is responsible for developing government-wide policy guidance on all aspects of FOIA administration. It provides legal counsel and training to agency personnel on FOIA. It publishes the United States Department of Justice Guide to the Freedom of Information Act. Kathryn Blankenberg is the Director of the office.
That office hosted a NexGen FOIA Tech Showcase covering Artificial Intelligence tools that may assist with FOIA case processing, according to DOJ. It later sought vendors for NexGen FOIA Technology Showcase 2.0 to present redaction tools including automatic redaction of similar forms and record types including paper, digital content, and videos, according to DOJ. The Chief FOIA Officers Council Technology Committee published working group charters including Artificial Intelligence Video Review and Redaction.
The policy context extends beyond FOIA offices. The White House plans to hire 100 AI professionals to promote the safe use of AI, according to Reuters. Open government and civil rights advocates warn that using AI to answer Freedom of Information Act requests may create new problems, according to NBC News.
The broader context here is simple. Finding what to black out sounds easy, but mistakes have different costs. Black out too much and the public misses information it should see, which hurts trust. Black out too little and private information gets out, which can cause legal trouble. Human review helps with both problems, but only if reviewers have the time, tools, and reason to say no to the machine.
Looking at daily work, the questions that matter are practical. How often do officers accept, change, or reject the suggestions. How disagreements are written down and used to check the system. How well it works on different records, from simple forms to long email chains to video. How private legal matters are handled when the full story runs across several records. Those answers will show if waits get shorter without quietly changing how much is shared.
In my view, the mix of vendors is worth flagging. Google models at CBP, Microsoft tools at Interior, Veritone for video at Justice, and a custom FRED build at HHS suggest agencies are picking tools to fit the records they hold and the systems they already use, rather than picking one model for all of government. That is a practical fit for different records, though it makes government-wide checking and comparison harder. The DOJ showcase and working group structure may provide a place to share testing methods even when the systems differ.
For FOIA requesters, little changes on the surface. Requests go in through the same channels. Responses arrive with redactions marked under statutory exemptions, the legal rules for withholding. The difference sits upstream, in how possible blackouts are found for review. If DHS meets its September scope and keeps reviewer oversight, the near-term test will be simple. Faster queues, with release quality held constant.
