The US government wants to spend $30.3 million over the next five years on an improved form of lie detector, according to a Department of Defense budget request. The program, called Polygraph+ or Polygraph Next, will focus on scoring algorithms that use artificial intelligence and machine learning and on a technique called standoff sensing, which refers to the ability to take physiological readings without attaching a device to a subject person.
According to details of the budget document, first reported by Inside Defense, the project will modernize federal lie detection by combining new sensor technologies with AI-driven analysis. The goal: a system that can detect deception at a distance, without the physical contact required by traditional polygraphs.
Experts are skeptical. AI-enabled lie detection is the worst of both worlds, said one researcher who reviewed the budget request. Traditional polygraphs have been repeatedly discredited by scientific reviews — the National Academy of Sciences concluded in 2003 that they are no better than chance. Adding AI to a fundamentally flawed methodology, critics argue, does not fix the underlying problem; it just makes the errors harder to challenge.
The budget request also raises civil-liberties concerns. Standoff sensing — reading physiological signals without physical contact — could enable screening in contexts where traditional polygraphs cannot reach: airports, government building entrances, or border crossings. Privacy advocates warn that the technology could normalize continuous biometric surveillance.
The DoD has not responded to requests for comment on the specific use cases envisioned for Polygraph+.
