KASH PATEL: AI is helping the new FBI find missing kids and stop mass shooters faster

When I was first sworn in as the ninth director of the FBI, one of my top priorities was to modernize the bureau with new, cutting-edge technology that would enable us to better serve and protect the American people. When I arrived, the FBI was working on legacy patching systems without AI, effectively planting a 2025 car battery into a 1985 vehicle. When it needed to be a supercomputer, our infrastructure was the Commodore 64. No more band-aids on bullet wounds. Wholesale change was necessary.

I am incredibly proud of the progress we have made this past year under President Trump’s leadership. We have rebuilt and revamped the FBI’s infrastructure across the organization; We helped the bureau achieve record-breaking results in eliminating violent crime and defending the homeland, while ensuring historic transparency.

Artificial intelligence is a big part of this overhaul. When then-Deputy Director Dan Bongino and I came here to headquarters, AI had almost zero role in the FBI. This needed to change, so we got to work. We immediately took the lead by establishing an AI working group to evaluate how we could accelerate modernization and seek input from field leaders on the ground in your communities. To facilitate our efforts, we appointed a Director of AI and established an AI Review Board. We created an AI Champions Program to identify advocates across the firm. Perhaps most importantly, we have formed direct partnerships with private sector industry leaders to rebuild our infrastructure and implement AI at scale.

FBI DIRECTOR KASH PATEL SAYS THE BUREAU IS INCREASING AI TO DEAL WITH DOMESTIC, GLOBAL THREATS

Artificial intelligence is at the heart of what we do. It helps us identify victims of child abuse, arrest and convict attackers, and more. Last year alone, that FBI identified and located 6,300 missing children, a 30% increase, and arrested 2,000 abusers, a 20% increase—largely thanks to these improvements. In a recent FBI Richmond case, the FBI’s Child Exploitation Operations Unit used facial recognition tools to rescue children ages 8 and 12 from a would-be abuser who will now spend 50 years in prison.

Artificial intelligence is at the heart of what we do. It helps us identify victims of child abuse, arrest and convict attackers, and more.

The FBI is now using new AI tools to create call transcripts, provide brief summaries, and even help link contacts to other complaints received. When someone calls NTOC (National Threat Operations Center, our 911 center), AI tools create a transcript of the call, prepare an effective summary of the threat, and immediately scan our database for comparisons with other open threat pipelines. Additionally, each tip receives a lead value to uncover the highest threat-related calls for Threat Acquisition Auditors. This particular threat retrieval process helped the FBI take swift action and stop a gunman who was planning a mass shooting at a North Carolina preschool.

Fingerprint matching is one of the most common methods the FBI uses to identify individuals. Some competitors attempt to manipulate fingerprints to conceal their identities by burning, cutting, or biting fingertips to remove ridge details, making matching difficult or impossible. Since fingerprint matching was an automatic process, swapped fingerprints were overlooked. Our data center, CJIS, the Division of Criminal Justice Information Services, has integrated AI-powered, real-time altered fingerprint detection. In 2025, this new solution detected 34 altered fingerprint identities, ultimately leading to the positive identification and arrest of wanted persons, drug traffickers, and fraudsters.

We also use artificial intelligence to facilitate rapid translation of large volumes of text, audio and video and to prioritize terabytes of data. Following the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023, the FBI had more than 75 terabytes of data to review, with more information coming in every day, including more than 75 search warrant returns. For perspective, a single search warrant return can contain 180,000 messages. It takes six or seven analysts working seven days a week for four or five weeks to review a single search warrant return. The FBI routinely has thousands of audio files and transcripts to review over the course of a single case. Our current models translate with roughly 80% accuracy, so our linguists can target the 20% that requires a human touch.

CLICK FOR OTHER OPINIONS OF FOX NEWS

We are not replacing people; we support them, sharpen their focus and accelerate the pace of our research. Collecting data for storage is like keeping Babe Ruth permanently on the bench.

Thanks to artificial intelligence, we are detecting and arresting more scammers, fraudsters and drug traffickers trying to hide their identities. The FBI is developing our deepfake detection systems to support these investigations through joint research and development agreements with the private sector.

Equally important, AI helps this FBI be more accountable to taxpayers by applying it to business operations across the bureau and getting maximum value for your money. With the help of our Enterprise AI assistant, this FBI cut $300 million in spending and identified more than $1.2 billion in contract cap savings.

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD FOX NEWS APPLICATION

These are just a few of the ways AI enables the FBI to accomplish the mission. Under the leadership of the Trump administration, this FBI has now become a faster, more efficient and more accountable crime-fighting machine thanks to the application of modern technology. This FBI desperately needed these transformational changes, but previous leadership refused to invest the time and resources and brought our talent to its knees. This changed immediately under my leadership and will continue.

The new FBI, the world’s largest law enforcement agency, gives our team the tools they need to accomplish the dangerous mission we ask them to do every day: protect America. And thanks to the brave personnel who use these tools, America is safer than it has been in decades.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE FROM FBI DIRECTOR KASH PATEL