Evolution at the CIA: Will AI Replace Human Spies?
The CIA is changing its approach to new technologies and is working to combine high-tech tools with ancient methods of collecting intelligence from people - human intelligence, or HUMINT.
William Burns, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, told Foreign Affairs about this.
He noted that espionage has been and will remain an integral part of government, and its methods are constantly being improved.
"Over the years, the agency has developed a huge number of spying devices, my favourite being a Cold War-era camera that looked and floated like a dragonfly," said the CIA director.
"The artificial intelligence revolution and the avalanche of information from open sources, along with what we collect covertly, are creating new and historic opportunities for CIA analysts," said William Burns.
According to him, the COVID-19 pandemic has shown every government the dangers of depending on one country for life-saving medical supplies, just as Russia's war in Ukraine has clearly shown Europe the risks of dependence on one country for energy.
And the Hamas massacre in Israel on 7 October 2023 is a painful reminder of the difficult choices the Middle East continues to pose for the United States.
"We are developing new artificial intelligence tools to help digest all the intelligence we collect more quickly and efficiently, allowing officers to focus on what they do best: providing informed judgement and insight into what matters most to policymakers and what matters most to American interests," the US intelligence chief added.
Another priority in this new era is the CIA's ability to benefit from its partners.
Just as diplomacy depends on revitalising these old and new partnerships, so too does intelligence depend on long-standing contacts. At its core, the intelligence profession is about human interaction, and there is no substitute for direct contact to strengthen ties with your closest allies, communicate with your fiercest adversaries, and improve all of them.
That is why, according to the CIA Director, AI will never replace human analysts, but it is already expanding their capabilities.
As The Gaze previously reported, artificial intelligence will affect 40% of jobs worldwide, according to an IMF study.