The agency is increasingly relying on the tech to sift through phones and other devices, driven by the vast quantities of information involved, it has emerged.

Benjamin Lamont, the AFP’s manager for technology strategy and data, revealed the scale of the challenge – saying investigations typically involved 40 terabytes of data.

The agency’s child exploitation centre handles 58,000 referrals annually, while cyber incidents are reported every six minutes.

Speaking at a Microsoft AI conference in Sydney on Wednesday, he said: "So we have no choice but to lean into AI. It’s beyond human scale, so we need to start to lean in heavily on AI, and we’re using it across a number of areas."

The AFP has joined the federal government’s trial of Microsoft’s Copilot AI assistant and is developing custom AI tools. Recent projects include translating six million Spanish-language emails and reviewing 7,000 hours of video footage.

Mr Lamont added: “Having a human sitting there going through 7,000 hours – it’s just not possible. So AI is playing a heavy role in that.”

Seized devices present another challenge, with some phones holding up to 1TB of data.

Mr Lamont said: "When we do a warrant at someone’s house now, there’s drawers full of old mobile phones. Now, how do we know that those mobile phones haven’t been used in the commission of an offence?"

The AFP is also deploying artificial intelligence to detect deepfakes and exploring generative AI for summarising graphic imagery to shield officers.

Mr Lamont acknowledged past missteps, such as the use of Clearview AI, and emphasised the agency’s commitment to ethical practices.

He said: “We haven’t always got it right… we’ve created a responsible technology committee to assess emerging technology.”