AI has been used to defraud people in every way, from calling voters to giving gifts to celebrities. Now, the U.S. Treasury Department claims that machine learning AI played a key role in its enhanced fraud detection processes last year — if a broken clock can be right twice a day, maybe AI can do something good for once?
In a new release, the Treasury said it prevented and recovered more than $4 billion worth of “fraudulent and improper payments” in the last fiscal year (October 2023 to September 2024). This number represents a massive increase over the previous year, which reached just $652.7 million. One-quarter of the $4 billion comes from recoveries made “by accelerating the identification of Treasury check fraud with machine learning AI.” Again, does this sound like a deal with the devil? Yes. But, that’s 2024.
That comes with $1 billion in costs, as well as $2.5 billion in prevention from “identifying and prioritizing high-risk transactions” and $680 million for additional prevention technologies.
The Treasury plans to share this technology with other federal agencies, though some agencies have already implemented their own technology. For example, the IRS has taken steps to use AI to find tax evaders, automate services, and conduct audits.
A new model of AirTags may be coming later this year, but as it is, we consider Apple’s current AirTag to be the best Bluetooth tracker for iPhone owners. It’s not exactly a low price, but it beats the current price of $73 for a four-pack that it’s been going for the last few months, even at Best Buy.
This isn’t a casual investment, but if you’re looking for an all-in-one home battery, you can save nearly $900 over a 6.1kWh single battery and inverter set. We saw the EcoFlow Delta Ultra at last year’s CES (this year we saw the brand’s cool solar hat). The battery can be filled from solar panels or the grid and deliver power back to your home on demand or in case of a power outage.