The latest benefit from the artificial intelligence revolution: Saving American taxpayers billions of dollars.
The U.S. Treasury announced that the expanded use of artificial intelligence in fraud detection has helped prevent or recover more than $4 billion in fraud in the past year.
Treasury officials said in a release Thursday that they are placing a special emphasis on machine learning, which involves analyzing large amounts of data, to detect patterns of fraud commonly used by criminals.
result:
$2.5 billion saved by identifying and preventing high-risk transactions $1 billion recovered from Treasury check fraud scheme Enhanced “risk-based” screening prevents $500 million in losses
“The Treasury Department takes seriously its responsibility to effectively manage taxpayer funds, Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said in a statement. Helping you make sure you pay the right amount is at the heart of our efforts.”
Treasury officials declined to provide specific examples of how the AI was deployed, given the nature of the targeted activity. The department said it plans to lend resources and lessons learned from its AI efforts to other federal agencies.
Online payment fraud is expected to total more than $362 billion by 2028, according to UK-based consultancy Juniper Research. Check fraud in the U.S. has already surged 385% since the pandemic, according to the Treasury Department.
Check fraud, whether from government or privately issued funds, continues to soar, with an estimated $688 million in suspicious activity reported by chartered banks between February and August 2023.
The Treasury Department will join the Internal Revenue Service in leveraging improved technology to generate fiscal benefits. Last year, the IRS announced that it was using AI to improve tax fraud detection, identify compliance threats, and improve case selection tools “to avoid the burden of unnecessary ‘no change’ audits on taxpayers.” The company announced that it has begun expanding its implementation.
