The US government plans to use AI to help redact documents, Bill Gates says it's irresponsible for AI to not have safeguards, and OpenAI's agents targeted and infiltrated US government websites

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The US government plans to use AI to help redact documents.

Bill Gates says it's completely irresponsible for AI to not have safeguards.

And OpenAI's agents targeted and infiltrated US government websites. It's Monday, September 28

And here's a quick look at some of the news happening in the sphere of tech this morning from Engadget.

Document redactions have been in the spotlight lately, thanks to the US. Justice Department's Epstein File release, which used it to blackout text in millions of documents. Now, the government plans to use AI to handle that redaction chore for Freedom of Information Act requests. That's according to GitHub documents seen by the Washington Post. Homeland Security will use Google's AI tools to recommend information that FOIA officers should redact. By the end of September, the DHS will use AI for documents that make up over 10% of FOIA requests, around 100,000 to 140,000 in all. Following those recommendations, DHS employees will review the cases to ensure the requester gets what the document calls accurate and complete information.

An interesting term considering the potential redaction. As part of its research, the Post discovered redaction-related AI tools in use or development by other agencies. The Interior Department uses Microsoft tools to redact potential attorney-client information, while the DOJ is using a Veriton tool called AIware to redact video. The Health and Human Services Division is developing its own tool, FRED, to redact unknown information. Though the government is touting the tools as a way to save time, it could lead to even more blacked out or missing documents. A FOIA expert at the University of Florida told the Washington Post, I think we have to watch the government really carefully on how they use AI to redact records, because I think it's going to be a very powerful tool for secrecy.

After several CEOs of leading AI companies have agreed on slowing down the pace of AI development, Bill Gates offered supporting sentiments and called for more regulation and safeguards. In an interview with NBC News' Meet the Press, the Microsoft co-founder said that it's completely irresponsible not to require every AI to have these safeguards and monitoring capabilities. To that end, Anthropic recently tapped Accenture to act as a third-party evaluator for its latest AI models. As for other approaches to deal with AI's rapid rate of evolution, California's Governor Gavin Newsom proposed a kill switch as part of a larger solution. When asked about the kill switch approach to curb AI, Gates said that, I would never want to say that I'm against a kill switch, but added that this approach would not address a more eminent danger. Instead, Gates said the more pressing concern is when bad actors tap into the power of AI to aid with bioterrorism or mass financial fraud incidents. Gates said during the interview, The most dangerous thing we're facing right now is people with bad intent using AI. There's never been a weapon as powerful as the combination of people with ill intent using the latest AI tools. When it comes to legislation, Gates supported law enforcement and politicians getting into the conversation of what safeguards and monitoring should be incorporated into AI companies. The former Microsoft exec said that this approach would add some overhead to the industry, but it would not cause a dramatic slowing of what they're doing.