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CIA to build its own ChatGPT-style AI bot for investigations: Report

The CIA says it is creating its own ChatGPT AI tool to conduct open-source investigations by analyzing public information.

The United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is planning to build and deploy its own ChatGPT-style artificial intelligence (AI) bot for investigations, according to a report from Bloomberg. 

The CIA reportedly plans to equip its analysts with the new AI tool to better access open-source intelligence. This includes sifting through public information for leads in investigations.

Agency officials said they intend to roll out the tool soon. Randy Nixon, director of the CIA’s open source enterprise, told Bloomberg that they have gone from utilizing “newspapers and radio, to newspapers and television, to newspapers and cable television, to basic internet, to big data, and it just keeps going.”

The development comes after critics have described the current methods through which the CIA processes available public data as “slow.”

Bloomberg reported that the new tools will allow its users to see the original source of the information being sourced, along with a chat feature.

“Then you can take it to the next level and start chatting and asking questions of the machines to give you answers, also sourced.”

There was no mention of the model from which the CIA is building its new tool nor its privacy protections, though Nixon said it “closely follows” privacy law in the United States.

The tool will reportedly be available across the 18 agencies that make up the U.S. intelligence. This includes the CIA, National Security Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigation and military-run agencies.

Related: Gensler testimony — Crypto enforcement actions driven by “wide-ranging noncompliance”

This development from the CIA comes after recent confirmation from other governmental agencies of the use of AI. 

On Sept. 12, Gary Gensler, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chair, confirmed to the U.S. Senate that his department is currently employing AI tools to monitor the finance industry to search for clues of fraud and manipulation.

In a speech on July 17, Gensler praised the use of AI tools, saying SEC staff could benefit from greater use of AI in “market surveillance, disclosure review, exams, enforcement and economic analysis.”

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CIA director says agency currently has ‘a number of different projects’ focused on crypto

William Burns said that building knowledge on crypto was “an important priority” for the CIA, and he planned to devote “resources and attention” to it.

Current director of the Central Intelligence Agency William Burns said his predecessor at the government agency initiated projects focused on gathering intelligence on cryptocurrency.

Fielding a question on crypto at the Wall Street Journal CEO Council Summit on Monday, Burns said the CIA was looking to add expertise in cryptocurrencies and blockchain to its team of intelligence analysts in addition to communicating with industry experts. He said the challenges from the crypto space “could have enormous impact” on the United States given what he has already seen in ransomware attacks.

“My predecessor had started this,” said Burns, likely referring to the actions of former acting CIA director David Cohen. “[They] had set in motion a number of different projects focused on cryptocurrency and trying to look at second- and third-order consequences as well and helping with our colleagues in other parts of the U.S. government to provide solid intelligence on what we're seeing as well."

Screenshot from Wall Street Journal's CEO Council Summit on Dec. 6

He added that building such knowledge on crypto was “an important priority” for the Agency, and he planned to devote “resources and attention” to it. The CIA director did not mention specifics on the direction the Agency planned to take in regard to fighting cyberattacks, but hinted it would aim to “get at the financial networks” for criminal groups using digital currencies for ransom. 

Burns, who assumed the director position in March, has seen hackers demand millions in crypto over an attack on Colonial Pipeline system in May, but also a task force from the U.S. government respond by recovering the majority of the lost funds. Michael Morrell, a former acting CIA director from 2012 to 2013, said “blockchain analysis is a highly effective crime fighting and intelligence gathering tool,” one underutilized by law enforcement agencies.

Related: CIA Has Had Keys to Global Communication Encryption Since WWII

There is no fixed term for a CIA director, meaning Burns will likely serve at the Agency at the pleasure of U.S. President Joe Biden. At the time of publication, Biden has yet to announce his picks to fill three empty seats on the board of governors of the Federal Reserve System.

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Former CIA Director Affirms Bitcoin Criminal Usage Is “Significantly Overstated”

The former director of America’s Central Intelligence Agency has released a research paper refuting the popular narrative claiming Bitcoin is used for criminal activities.

Ex-CIA Director Comes to Bitcoin’s Side

Michael Morell spent 33 years in the CIA and served as its deputy director from 2010 to 2013. The retired official was commissioned to write an independent report by the Crypto Council for Innovation.

His findings included two important conclusions which fly in the face of recent declarations by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.

First, the generalizations against Bitcoin’s illicit use made by the Treasury Secretary are significantly overstated, Morell said.

The well-known narrative of Bitcoin as an asset used by terrorists and arms dealers doesn’t hold up to scrutiny. On the contrary, the author actually argues that blockchain analysis is a highly effective crime-fighting and intelligence-gathering tool. Instead of fighting blockchain technology, U.S. authorities should embrace it for its transparency.

In an interview with Forbes, Morell insisted that if the U.S. continues to waste its energy fighting a decentralized network instead of leveraging its potential and supporting the many homegrown crypto companies, the country will face severe geopolitical repercussions.

His findings correlate with official numbers on crypto criminality, showing that the amount of criminal spending on the blockchain can be estimated to around 0.3% of all crypto spending.

“We need to make sure that the conventional wisdom that is wrong about the illicit use of Bitcoin doesn’t hold us back from pushing forward the technological changes that are going to allow us to keep pace with China,” he told Forbes.

Disclaimer: The author held BTC at the time of writing.

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