Citizens are more empowered than ever to help the government root out waste, fraud, and abuse, Wynton Hall argues in his new book, Code Red: The Left, the Right, China, and the Race to Control AI.
Hall writes in CODE RED that the United States government has become so vast, that few can barely fathom its size. He notes that Walmart, the largest American private employer, has 1.6 million American employees, while the federal government has 2.25 million civilians at its disposal.
However, Hall believes that AI could provide an avenue to rip out waste, fraud, and abuse from the federal government.
“AI is uniquely suited to help uncover waste, detect fraud, and pinpoint abuse within the federal bureaucracy precisely because it excels at analyzing massive datasets, performing trillions of calculations in seconds, and recognizing complex patterns,” he writes in CODE RED.
Hall wrote that there are many ways to identify waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal government, whether that includes duplicative services, government contractors overcharging for services, and more:
For one, given the enormous purchasing power involved, many government contracts inevitably overlap with others, overcharge for products and services, or include superfluous spending. Manually identifying these forms of waste can be like scanning the ocean floor for a single lost coin. However, AI systems calibrated to standard market prices can quickly flag instances where agencies are being overcharged. AI can also detect duplicative or overlapping contracts to stop squandering citizens’ money on redundant or unnecessary expenses. When you’re dealing with more than three- quarters of a trillion dollars in annual purchases, even modest efficiency gains can mean massive savings for taxpayers.
A second area ripe for AI- driven modernization is budget allocation and execution. Bureaucracies are traditionally incentivized to max out their budgets; any unspent cash might lead to future reductions in staff or funding. This self- preservation impulse is inherent in bureaucracies’ DNA. As President Reagan put it, “A government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we’ll ever see on this Earth.” By aggregating budget and expenditure data, AI can uncover patterns such as consistently unused funds and areas to which to reallocate resources for greater impact, and identify offices with abnormally high administrative costs. What’s more, AI- powered analytics can flag fraudulent billing patterns, such as a contractor that sends invoices to more than one department for the same service.
Hall argued that AI could help streamline government contract bidding, as “cumbersome regulations” benefit the biggest and most-connected companies. He cites, Derek Hoyt, a cofounder of GovSignals, a firm that helps use AI to help secure government contracts, could help small- and medium-sized businesses navigate the process more efficiently, and ultimately lower government spending.
He writes that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) estimated that the government loses between $233 and $521 billion annually to fraud. The same watchdog agency reported that federal agencies have reported about $2.8 trillion in estimated improper payments. In one instance, the Small Business Administration (SBA) doled out $312 million in coronavirus pandemic loans to children under the age of eleven.
“This means that the government must have an aggressive and robust ongoing protocol for AI innovation to fight fraud. Doing so can help keep pace with ever evolving AI techniques and remain one technological step ahead of the bad guys,” Hall wrote.
Hall concludes, “Transforming this entrenched reality requires a revolutionary approach. Cutting the size of government isn’t a job for a scalpel; it demands a chainsaw.”
Wynton Hall’s CODE RED covers a wide range of topics related to AI, ranging from its impact on elections and the economy to faith and family. Crucially, the book doesn’t treat AI as a terrible evil or utopian good — rather as a tool that must be harnessed correctly to support American values.
Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), who was named one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in AI, praised CODE RED as a “must-read.” She added: “Few understand our conservative fight against Big Tech as Hall does,” making him “uniquely qualified to examine how we can best utilize AI’s enormous potential, while ensuring it does not exploit kids, creators, and conservatives.” Award-winning investigative journalist and Public founder Michael Shellenberger calls CODE RED “illuminating,” ”alarming,” and describes the book as “an essential conversation-starter for those hoping to subvert Big Tech’s autocratic plans before it’s too late.”
