Eric Stein, deputy assistant secretary for the Office of Global Information Services at the State Department, said the department declassified diplomatic cables from late 1997 using artificial intelligence and machine learning, Federal News Network reported Monday.
The State Department used declassification decisions to train the machine learning model and Stein said the tool has a 97 percent accuracy in determining whether to declassify a record as part of a pilot program that included personnel in the entire review process.
“And some of those 3% issues weren’t even review decisions,” he said at an Oct. 5 event. “They were actually data quality issues or other challenges.”
Stein called the pilot a proactive measure to improve transparency at the department using technology.
The State Department has fully operationalized the technology and plans to extend the use of the tool to email and other types of records, according to the report.