Kash Patel says he’s boosted the bureau’s AI use by 605%. But he hasn’t said how that number was measured: ‘Instantaneous results’

FBI Director Kash Patel told Fox News host Kayleigh McEnany that the use of artificial intelligence within the bureau has risen by 605% during his tenure. The comments came on Fox News’ Saturday in America.

McEnany pointed to Patel’s earlier public comments linking AI to a potential school shooting that was stopped in North Carolina. Patel answered by calling lawfully used AI a critical tool for triaging data.

“We’ve done it in North Carolina and about half a dozen other states to prevent school shootings since I’ve been in the seat,” Patel said. “AI, when used lawfully, is a critical tool to triage data. For far too long the institutional morass in D.C. rejected the advancements of technology. I have increased the use of AI in the FBI by 605%.”

Patel said outside firms are working inside the bureau on faster results

Patel said the next step is to cooperate with private-sector and state and local partners. He said that the work would include reviewing databases, gathering information, obtaining DNA samples, and pushing threat details back out to the field.

The aim, he said, is to stop people from killing children at schools. “That is not a political mission,” Patel said. He also said Democrats on the committee did not want to discuss that effort.

Patel said the bureau will keep working to protect children and will keep using technology. He said the FBI has made the most technological advancements in its history over the last 18 months, thanks to President Trump.

Mediaite points out that Patel made a related claim in May on Fox News with Sean Hannity. He said AI helped handle a tip about a possible school shooting in North Carolina. “We stopped a school massacre in North Carolina because we got a tip and we were able to triage it with artificial intelligence,” he said.

He also said major technology companies are working inside the FBI. “I’ve got every major tech company in the world embedded in the FBI, rebuilding our internet capabilities, our classified systems, and the ability for artificial intelligence to be in our counterterrorism program so we can get instantaneous results,” Patel said.

Those comments arrive as some industry figures have urged a slower pace for AI. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said this month that AI development should be slowed or rogue AI agents could take over the internet in 12 months.

Elon Musk and Sam Altman backed that call to slow the pace, the report said. The warning came after Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon resigned and released a statement claiming AI could advance so rapidly that it “kills us all” within 10 years.

President Donald Trump has called doomsday AI scenarios a “hoax.” On Saturday he posted on Truth Social in defense of AI, described it as a “revolution,” said he dislikes the name, and asked people to vote in a poll on other names.

In the Saturday interview as quoted, Patel gave the 605% figure but did not explain how that number was measured. The FBI director’s tenure has drawn scrutiny beyond AI metrics, such as when he lost a $10 million defamation lawsuit against a California blogger.