The
Freedom of Information Act
and state laws like it gave people incredible insight into the inner workings of government. Unfortunately, they have also created a backlog of hundreds of thousands of requests for documents that may contain sensitive information.
This burden falls especially hard on the nation’s public
schools
, which are being inundated with requests but rarely have the resources to prepare and distribute documents in a way that fulfills their legal obligation.
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Recent advancements in artificial intelligence, however, are proving effective in managing FOIA requests. These advanced solutions may arrive just in time to save them millions in legal fees and labor costs.
Enacted in 1966
, FOIA gave people the right to obtain government documents from any federal agency or department. It also made those entities responsible for redacting any sensitive information contained within. Specifically, Congress established
nine categories
that are exempt from disclosure, including threats to national security, personal privacy, information that might compromise law enforcement activities, privileged communications between agencies, business trade secrets, and more.
That means that when a FOIA request is made, it’s the responsibility of the agency or institution to which it is filed to go through the documents with a fine-toothed comb and manually redact any information that falls into one of those nine categories. This necessary but cumbersome process, however, has recently culminated in a historic backlog of requests.
There were a
record-breaking 928,353
FOIA requests made to federal government agencies last year, many of which remain unfilled. In recent months, the Department of Justice alone
reported
a backlog of nearly 65,000 requests, the Department of Defense is still
working through
more than 18,500 requests, and the State Department
has yet to respond to
more than 18,750.
Not responding to these requests in a timely manner can result in fines and subsequent litigation, which can prove costly. In 2021, for example, the DOJ
estimated
its annual FOIA and related litigation costs to be approximately $500 million.
The challenge is even more acute for the country’s roughly 98,600 public schools, which have seen a huge spike in Freedom of Information Act requests since they became the latest battleground in the political culture war.
According to a recent
Washington Post
investigation
, one Virginia school district added half a million dollars to its budget to process such requests. Another in Arkansas said it had to find $20,000 and 400 hours of staff labor to respond to a flood of 100 requests that came in over a 90-day period. Minnesota’s Owatonna Public Schools, meanwhile, said the requests required $165,000 of the district’s budget and 2,200 hours of its staff time to produce 170,000 pages of records and expects clearing the existing backlog to take a full year.
New AI-based tools, however, could possibly get the job done in a matter of minutes and at a fraction of the cost.
Specifically, OpenAI’s
ChatGPT
has proven itself incredibly effective at scouring the internet to produce original content that meets certain criteria. Since its release to the public in November, it has already demonstrated an ability to write code, original poetry, and even pass
bar exams
. Now, the software is being employed by school districts to help them overcome the surge in FOIA requests quickly and cost-efficiently.
My company,
Logikcull
, provides AI-powered tools designed to manage legal documents. In late March, we
unveiled
a suite of new AI features — one of which is a
redaction tool
that can automatically black out any information that falls into one of FOIA’s nine exemption categories, cutting thousands of manhours down to just a few minutes.
The technology has the potential to be a lifesaver to school districts across the country, and other government agencies have openly
expressed optimism
regarding AI’s potential in managing FOIA requests in the future.
At the same time, many of these agencies are understandably hesitant, given the highly sensitive nature of the information they are responsible for handling. Still, the stage has been set, and with FOIA requests skyrocketing, it’s only a matter of time before every government agency employs AI technology out of necessity. This could expedite what has historically been a slow and arduous process and save taxpayers millions or more in legal fees and litigation.
FOIA is an important tool for government transparency, but with skyrocketing requests, and a surge in those targeting institutions with the fewest resources, now is the perfect time to update the process of redacting sensitive information in the era of AI.
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Andy Wilson is the CEO of
Logikcull
.
