FBI Director Kash Patel said the bureau has used artificial intelligence to prevent six school shootings and increased its technology use by 605 percent since taking office.
Patel made the claims during recent public appearances, including an interview on Fox News' "Saturday in America" with host Kayleigh McEnany and on Sean Hannity's podcast Tuesday.
Patel criticized the FBI's previous focus on "weaponization, not modernization," saying the bureau had not utilized AI before his leadership. He questioned the effectiveness of data collection without modern tools: "What's the point of collecting terabytes of data if you can't sift through it?"
Under Patel's direction, the FBI integrated AI into its National Threat Operations Center and Criminal Justice Information Services database to process the thousands of tips received weekly. Patel said human personnel alone could not manage the volume. "If we had just humans look at it, we would never sift through them all," he said.
Patel cited specific examples of AI's impact, including prevention of a school massacre in North Carolina after the FBI received and AI-triaged a tip. He also described prevention of a school shooting in New York through a tip from private-sector partners developing their own AI infrastructure.
Patel stated that "every major tech company" is now embedded within the FBI. He highlighted AI's role in the bureau's counterterrorism program, enabling "instantaneous results."
Beyond school attacks, Patel said AI assists with fingerprint identification and expediting fugitive and arrest warrants. The FBI's public website lists additional uses including vehicle recognition, triage of voice samples for language identification, and text generation from speech.
The bureau's AI policy emphasizes human oversight. According to the FBI website, trained investigators or analysts assess the output of integrated AI systems, and "a human being is ultimately accountable for the actions taken, not an AI." The bureau said its data policies are designed to meet the "highest standards of privacy, civil liberties, ethics, and adherence to the U.S. Constitution."
