The FBI declares it can conduct mass surveillance without AI, despite Anthropic’s protest. Patel’s admission underscores how the government is able to conduct mass surveillance despite its assurances to abide by lawful use of AI and fourth amendment protections against unreasonable searches, which prohibit the warrantless collection of individuals’ location histories. Federal law enforcement agencies generally must obtain a warrant to gather historical or real-time cellphone location data, which requires establishing probable cause in the eyes of a judge. Fears over use of data brokers being used to engineer mass surveillance have intensified in recent years as AI technology has made it easier to parse and cross reference vast datasets. Yet some digital privacy experts have expressed skepticism that this addendum is strong enough to prevent AI being used in mass surveillance operations, pointing to the words “intentionally” and “deliberate” in the language of the deal.

Source: The Guardian March 21, 2026 19:22 UTC