Criminals Who Misuse AI Face Stiffer Sentences in DOJ Crackdown

The Justice Department’s No. 2 official is directing federal prosecutors to try imposing harsher penalties against criminals who’ve used AI to advance their misconduct.

“Going forward, where Department of Justice prosecutors can seek stiffer sentences for offenses made significantly more dangerous by the misuse of AI, they will,” Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said Wednesday at the University of Oxford in the UK.

As the law develops in response to rapidly emerging generative technology, DOJ is already leveraging existing statutes to combat the harms of artificial intelligence in contexts such as election security, anti-discrimination, price fixing, and identity theft, Monaco said at an event on the promise and perils of AI in criminal justice.

After crediting the technology’s potential to assist law enforcement in uncovering crimes, she said AI may be “the sharpest blade yet” in technology’s long history as a double-edged sword.

Ahead of the 2024 election this fall, Monaco said she’s “particularly focused” on formulating a response to AI’s risks to US voters.

Whether it’s “accelerating online harassment, hate, and disinformation,” or “impersonating trusted sources and spreading deepfakes,” Monaco said she fears “it’s just the start” of AI being misused in elections.

The department is also in the midst of looking inward at how DOJ has started implementing AI, and will be releasing internal guidance to establish guardrails ensuring it’s deployed without violating the public’s rights or posing safety risks.

Monaco said DOJ has “just scratched the surface of how AI can strengthen the Justice Department’s work.” But already, DOJ has used it to trace opioid sources, triage tips received by the FBI, and process massive volumes of electronic evidence seized in significant cases—including prosecutions from the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.