44 MAY-JUNE 2026 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL FOCUS AI IN DIPLOMACY Artificial intelligence (AI) companies predict that many entry-level professional positions will be replaced by AI in the coming years. As their stock prices continue to rise, underpinning much of the recent growth in our Thrift Savings Plan accounts, are we trading that benefit for a debt when AI takes over consular work? It’s hard to imagine AI handling significant parts of American Citizens Service (ACS) work: Who would want their loved one to get a As the derided “drudge work” of the Foreign Service, visa adjudication is often seen as the low-hanging fruit for AI replacement. But is it? BY IAN HOPPER Ian Hopper retired from the Senior Foreign Service in 2025. He served in Manila, Lomé, Chennai, Amman, Frankfurt, Baghdad, and Toronto, mostly in consular roles. He now works as the government relations director at Philadelphia immigration law firm Green & Spiegel. Are AI Consular Officers in Our Future? death notification from ChatGPT? But as the derided “drudge work” of the Foreign Service, visa adjudication is often seen as the low-hanging fruit for AI replacement. On its surface, it makes sense. Nonimmigrant visa (NIV) interviews have discrete outcomes: issuances, refusals, extra security clearances, and minor variations for limitations or annotations. They also involve a huge amount of data, even apart from the interview itself. But some issues remain, not least the fact that every visa decision is a national security decision with no room for error. Studying the Case The data load in visa adjudication is enormous. The visa applicant fills out an extensive application form, and the Bureau of Consular Affairs (CA) pulls security and law enforcement records, as well as a prior travel history. On a macro scale, we keep millions of records of prior visa
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