US Treasury Recovers $4 Billion Using AI In 2024 Fiscal Year

According to Cointelegraph, the United States Department of Treasury announced on October 17 that it utilized artificial intelligence to recover $4 billion in fraud and improper payments during the 2024 fiscal year. This marks a significant increase from the previous fiscal year, where $652.7 million was recovered. The Treasury began employing machine learning AI in late 2022. This technology specializes in analyzing large datasets and making decisions and predictions based on the information it processes. Renata Miskell, a Treasury official, described the impact of AI as transformative, stating that leveraging data has significantly improved their fraud detection and prevention capabilities. Miskell emphasized that AI helps uncover hidden patterns and anomalies that fraudsters use to game the system. Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo highlighted the agency's commitment to being effective stewards of taxpayer money. The Treasury processes approximately 1.4 billion payments annually, amounting to a total value of $6.9 trillion. In May, the Treasury announced plans to expand the use of AI to enhance regulatory and enforcement efforts against financial crimes. The Treasury is not alone in adopting AI technology. In September 2023, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) revealed that it had deployed AI to detect tax evasion by examining large and complex returns from hedge funds and law firms. Juniper Research has projected that online payment fraud could cumulatively exceed $362 billion by 2028.