Pentagon seeks $30.3 million for AI-based lie detector program

The Pentagon is seeking $30.3 million over five years for a program to develop AI-based scoring and contactless sensing for lie detection, MIT Technology Review reports, citing a Defense Department budget request. The proposed Polygraph+ program would be run by the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency for employee vetting and detecting potential insider threats. Contactless sensing would take physiological readings without attaching a device to the person being assessed. The request has not been approved by Congress, and the specific technologies have not been selected. Researchers cited in the report question whether physiological signals can reliably establish that someone is lying, a limitation the proposed scoring system would still face.