Law enforcement is always looking at ways to make sure drugs aren't coming into the country and into your neighborhood. Agencies are now turning to artificial intelligence to help keep us safe, especially on the southern border. That's where Border Patrol agents found nearly 99% of the fentanyl smuggled into the United States.
A drug like fentanyl can be nearly impossible to find just by using orthodox methods. To help, the government is expanding a $9 million contract given to global supply chain start-up platform Altana to use an AI tool to track fentanyl production.
How AI is used to track fentanyl production
Altana uses artificial intelligence to track companies that make ingredients used to make fentanyl. It also tracks where those ingredients are shipped to. Agents can then use that information to shut down both the production and distribution networks of the deadly synthetic opioid.