AI is making it very easy for the government to spy on you. Some lawmakers are worried.

SecurityAI is making it very easy for the government to spy on you. Some lawmakers are worried.AI’s increasing ability to sift through data and track Americans’ locations has some lawmakers reconsidering parts of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.Listen to this article with a free account00:0000:00Chelsea Stahl / NBC News; Getty ImagesShareAdd NBC News to GoogleApril 26, 2026, 7:15 AM EDTBy Jared PerloLawmakers are leery that AI will give old-fashioned snooping a dangerous new edge.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.The long-running fight to rein in the government’s power to search Americans’ phone calls, emails and text messages without a warrant has gained new urgency on Capitol Hill over concerns that AI will supercharge state surveillance.Lawmakers are currently jockeying over reforms to a key law that enables warrantless monitoring of Americans’ communications, with privacy advocates and national security hawks warning that AI will allow faster and more invasive analysis of vast amounts of information — including communications swept up in foreign intelligence programs and commercially available location or behavioral data.“Imagine instead of doing a query with one person that you turned AI loose on these databases,” Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., said Thursday at a press conference announcing a new bill to close data-collection loopholes. “There’s virtually nothing the government can’t know about you.”Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) allows the government to collect the communications of foreigners abroad, but it also enables the government to collect messages, emails and other transmissions from Americans when they contact foreigners. The government can then perform warrantless searches on those emails, messages and other communications. Though the provision was originally passed in 2008, lawmakers must renew it every few years.A bipartisan coalition of lawmake...