AI is making it very easy for the government to spy on you. Some lawmakers are worried.

FISA AI debate

The long-running fight to rein in the government’s power to search Americans’ phone calls, emails and text messages without a warrant has gained new urgency on Capitol Hill over concerns that AI will supercharge state surveillance.

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Privacy advocates warn that if the law enabling warrantless monitoring of Americans is not meaningfully reformed, many citizens could be subject to increasingly invasive AI-powered analysis of communications swept up by foreign intelligence programs as well as commercially available location and behavioral data.

“Imagine instead of doing a query with one person that you turned AI loose on these databases,” Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., said Thursday at a press conference announcing a new bill to close data-collection loopholes. “There’s virtually nothing the government can’t know about you.”