Artificial Intelligence, Fraud, and Waste in Florida Government Why Responsible AI Is Essential to Protect Taxpayer Dollars By Ernie Sanders, Director, State and Local Inc, Peraton A Growing Challenge for Florida Government Florida government oversees hundreds of billions of dollars each year across healthcare,
transportation, education, public safety, and human services. With that scale comes unavoidable exposure to fraud, waste, and abuse (FWA), a challenge that is growing more complex as criminal actors adopt advanced technologies. Today’s fraud schemes are no longer manual or isolated. They are coordinated, automated, and increasingly AI-enabled, using synthetic identities, automated claims, deepfake documents, and cyber intrusion techniques that outpace traditional controls. The uncomfortable truth is this: avoiding AI does not reduce Florida’s risk—it increases it.
Legacy controls were not designed for this level of speed or scale. As a result, investigations often occur after losses have already occurred. Fear Is Understandable explainability, cybersecurity, and misuse are legitimate. Legislators and CIOs are right to ask hard questions about accountability, privacy, and transparency. However, fear-driven avoidance creates new vulnerabilities: —but Misplaced Concerns about AI bias,
AI Is Already Being Used Against Government
Fraud rings, cybercriminals, and organized adversaries already use AI to: Generate realistic fake documents and identities Automate attacks on benefit
and eligibility systems Coordinate fraud across agencies and programs Evade static, rules-based detection systems
42 – 2026 Legislative Edition – Florida Technology Magazine
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