An inquiry has been opened by the House Judiciary Committee as to whether the IRS is using artificial intelligence to invade Americans’ financial privacy. The inquiry comes after an agency employee was captured in an undercover tape suggesting there was a widespread surveillance operation underway that might not be constitutional, reports Just the News.
The inquiry was opened by Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Rep. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyo., who sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen demanding documents, and answers as to how the agency is currently employing artificial intelligence to comb through bank records to look for possible tax cheats.
The House Judiciary Committee has been investigating why the FBI was obtaining Americans’ bank records, including those who partook in the January 6 Capitol riots, without using search warrants or subpoenas.
Jordan’s and Hageman’s letter said lawmakers have evidence and reason to believe that the IRS and Department of Justice (DOJ) are actively monitoring millions of Americans’ private transactions, bank accounts, and related financial information—without any legal process—using the AI-powered system.
“This kind of pervasive financial surveillance, carried out in coordination with federal law enforcement, into Americans’ private financial records raises serious doubts about the IRS’s—and the federal government’s—respect for Americans’ fundamental civil liberties,” the letter said.
“So one of the things that I have learned since I’ve been in Congress is that there are quite a few people in government who do not recognize our constitutional protections,” Hageman told Just the News. “They’ve kind of forgotten or at least ignored our Bill of Rights.”
Just the News also reported that the Treasury Department has since acknowledged it has “implemented an enhanced process using AI to mitigate check fraud in near real-time by strengthening and expediting processes to recover potentially fraudulent payments from financial institutions’ since late 2022.”