The Trump administration is quickly outfitting federal agencies with artificial intelligence tools, and the mystery surrounding how exactly these tools will be used is more than a little unsettling.
Tech-focused outlet FedScoop was first to report on an AI chatbot being deployed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection that’s called “chatCBP,” an apparent play on OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection is implementing an AI chatbot called “chatCBP” for its workforce, following in the footsteps of similar federal government creations like DHSChat and StateChat.
“CBP’s chatCBP is an AI-powered chatbot designed to improve efficiency and access to information for CBP personnel while meeting CBP’s security standards,” a CBP spokesperson told FedScoop in an emailed statement.
FedScoop says it was also told by a CBP spokesperson that “chatCBP offers features like document summarization, compilation, information extraction, and multi-file analysis, reducing the time spent searching for and interpreting documents.” Citing the spokesperson, FedScoop reported that the tool “is designed to be used by workers and not to replace them. Those workers also receive training and guidance, and are reminded that their own judgment is essential when making decisions.”
That having been said, it’s worth noting that this report comes in the wake of reporting about how employees at the dubiously named Department of Government Efficiency have been dead set on replacing civil service workers with AI robots. And on that note, one U.S. official recently told The Washington Post that the end goal “is replacing the human workforce with machines.”
If you’ve detected a dystopian feel around the Trump administration’s efforts to robotize some functions of the federal government, you’re definitely not alone.
FedScoop makes sure to note that the Department of Homeland Security began implementing AI chatbots during the Biden administration and that “chatCBP” is just one of the chatbots being used by federal agencies — a troubling revelation.
And even if “chatCBP” is being deployed to assist, rather than steer, federal employees’ work, this is a slippery slope. But one key difference between the Trump White House and the previous one is that Joe Biden prioritized rooting out bias in AI tools, while Donald Trump seems diametrically opposed to anti-discrimination efforts and AI regulation in general. And even if “chatCBP” is being deployed to assist, rather than steer, federal employees’ work, this is a slippery slope. We’ve already seen AI tools used similarly by law enforcement and security-focused agencies across the country — resulting in bias and discrimination. That’s why AI experts and ethicists have been insistent for years about the need for transparency and restraint when AI is deployed in these arenas — because in lieu of oversight, such tools can discriminate under the guise of impartiality. And with the Trump administration so gung-ho about booting immigrants out of the country and so averse to measures that would help ensure AI tools remain ethical, there’s no telling what any of the administration’s chatbots will do for — or to — the Americans they theoretically exist to serve.
Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog.
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