Accountability perspectives in the context of AI in intelligence and security investigations
J.E. Constantino (TU Delft - Technology, Policy and Management)
F.J. van Krimpen (TU Delft - Technology, Policy and Management)
Sarah van Gerwen (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)
Ben Wagner (TU Delft - Technology, Policy and Management, Hogeschool Inholland)
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Abstract
This paper examines how democratic intelligence and security actors understand accountability in the context of AI-supported digital investigations. Against a backdrop of escalating AI-enabled cyber threats and growing governmental interest in adopting AI for defense, security, law enforcement, and justice, the potential use of AI raises pressing questions regarding accountability in democratic societies. Drawing on exploratory qualitative research based on semi-structured interviews with intelligence and security actors primarily in the Netherlands, triangulated with perspectives from Belgium, Norway and the United Kingdom, the findings show that accountability challenges are understood less as problems arising from AI alone and more as broader socio-legal-technical challenges involving AI and data governance, technological trustworthiness, human oversight, and organizational resources. Participants also emphasized that accountability in the digital age requires intelligence and security actors to navigate the persistent tension between protecting national security and respecting fundamental rights. The article provides empirical insight into how accountability is perceived and operationalized in AI-supported intelligence and security investigations under conditions of legal, organizational and technological complexity.
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