US to use AI to revoke visas of students deemed 'pro-Hamas': Report

The US State Department plans to use artifical intelligence to revoke the visas of foreign students who are deemed "pro-Hamas," Axios reported on Thursday, citing senior State Department officials.

The project, launched by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, will see "AI-assisted reviews of tens of thousands of student visa holders' social media accounts [and] marks a dramatic escalation in the US government's policing of foreign nationals' conduct and speech," Axios said.

It added that reviews of social media accounts "are particularly looking for evidence of alleged terrorist sympathies" expressed after Hamas' 7 October, 2023 attack on southern Israel, officials told Axios.

"We found literally zero visa revocations during the Biden administration," one official was quoted as saying, ".. which suggests a blind eye attitude toward law enforcement."