DOJ ramps up AI for legal work, crime predictions, surveillance, inventory shows

Source Domain: fedscoop.com

From litigation to federal prisons to criminal investigations, artificial intelligence appears to have touched nearly every corner of the Department of Justice in the past year.

Just two years ago, the DOJ reported four use cases of AI at the agency. In its most recent 2025 use case inventory, the agency logged 315 cases, a 31% increase from last year. The use cases varied widely in function, though technology and privacy experts took particular note of instances where AI was deployed at the agency for crime prediction, public surveillance, and litigation.

Of these cases, 114 were deemed “high-impact” by the agency. Under the latest guidance, high-impact AI includes models that could have “significant impacts” when deployed, including for decisions or actions with a “legal, material, binding or significant effect on rights and safety.”

Jay Stanley, a senior policy analyst with the American Civil Liberties Union’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, told FedScoop that the DOJ’s 2025 inventory provides a “snapshot” of how the federal government “is aggressively seeking to test and exploit a wide variety of AI algorithms and sifting through data on ordinary people.”

The deeper look into the DOJ’s day-to-day work with the emerging technology comes amid heightened scrutiny of the agency, as it helps carry out the Trump administration’s aggressive enforcement priorities, including immigration.

Predictive AI

From intake to release, the Federal Bureau of Prisons uses AI across several stages of the federal imprisonment process. Among the most controversial cases is the use of predictive AI to analyze inmate behavior, with experts expressing concerns about the biases and real-life consequences of such technology.

In one case, called “BRAVO Classification,” the FBOP uses “statistical techniques to predict potential for misconduct for newly admitted inmates,” and assigns appropriate…

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