Recent publicity around the artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT has led to a great deal of public concern about its growth and potential. Italy recently banned the latest version, citing concerns about privacy because of its ability to use information without permission.
But intelligence agencies, including the CIA, in charge of foreign intelligence for the US, and its sister organisation the National Security Agency (NSA), have been using earlier forms of AI since the start of the cold war.
Machine translation of foreign language documents laid the foundation for modern-day natural language processing (NLP) techniques. NLP helps machines understand human language, enabling them to carry out simple tasks, such as spell checks.
