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The US Treasury Department used artificial intelligence (AI) to identify $4 billion in fraud and improper payments in 2024, up from $652.7 million in the previous year. AI technology was quietly adopted in late 2022 to analyze large amounts of data for fraud detection and prevention. The technology is also being used by the Internal Revenue Service to detect tax evasion. The department, which handles around 1.4 billion payments a year totalling $6.9 trillion, is planning to extend the use of AI to tackle financial crimes, with online payment fraud expected to reach $362 billion by 2028.

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The US Treasury Department revealed that they used artificial intelligence to scrutinize huge amounts of data and managed to uncover $4 billion in fraud and improper payments in 2024. This is a pretty big leap compared to the $652.7 million recovered in the previous fiscal year – nearly four times the amount, in fact.

Starting in late 2022, they began subtly employing machine learning AI. This kind of tech is great at analyzing truckloads of data and then making decisions or predictions based on what it’s learned.

“It’s seriously been a game-changer,” said Renata Miskell, a Treasury official, who explained to CNN that using data like this has significantly boosted their fraud detection and prevention efforts. “Fraudsters are really good at keeping things hush-hush. They’re constantly trying to cheat the system without being noticed. AI and data usage help us spot those hidden trends and irregularities, and work to prevent them.”

Wally Adeyemo, the Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, stressed that the agency is committed to being responsible keepers of taxpayer money. He’s not the only government official leveraging AI – the Internal Revenue Service also started using AI in September 2023 to catch out tax dodges by analyzing huge and complex returns from hedge funds and law firms.

As of now, the treasury department is juggling around 1.4 billion payments a year, adding up to an enormous total value of $6.9 trillion. But it doesn’t end there – in May, they announced plans to expand the use of AI in an effort to boost the government’s regulatory and enforcement efforts against financial crimes. They’ve got their work cut out for them, with reports suggesting that online payment fraud could exceed a total of $362 billion by 2028.

Source: Cointelegraph