A new legislation introduced in the Senate would create restrictions on the Defense Department’s (DOD) use of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to conduct surveillance of U.S. citizens, among other limits.
Under the Trump administration, the DOD was rebranded as the War Department.
The AI Guardrails Act offered by Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., on March 17 would also ban DOD from using AI tech to launch nuclear weapons and “from firing autonomous weapons to kill without human authorization, “the senator’s office said.
“Congress is behind in putting left and right limits on the use of AI, and the first place to start should be at the Pentagon,” Slotkin said.
Slotkin acknowledged that AI tech will shape the future if America’s national security, “and we must win the AI race against China.”
“But to do that, we need action that puts limits on AI in the Department of Defense,” she said, adding, “this is just common sense.”
On the surveillance front, Sen. Slotkin’s office said U.S. law provides protections against “the U.S. Government’s potential abuse of authorities, including domestic mass surveillance.” This legislation would further prevent government invasion of individuals’ privacy and constitutional rights by clearly and explicitly prohibiting DOD’s use of AI for domestic mass surveillance.
Regarding the bill’s curb on the use of AI tech to launch nuclear weapons, the senator’s office said the bill “ensures the decision to launch nuclear weapons rests solely with the Commander-in-Chief, not machines.”
“These safeguards would apply across the full AI lifecycle, from development and testing to deployment and post-deployment continuous monitoring,” her office said.
Slotkin’s bill follows an ongoing dispute between the Federal government – mainly the DOD – and AI company Anthropic. The dispute centers on Anthropic’ s refusal to allow its technology to be used for mass surveillance of U.S. citizens and autonomous lethal weapons. The conflict escalated when President Donald Trump ordered federal agencies to terminate contracts with the company. Anthropic has filed two lawsuits alleging illegal retaliation.
Slotkin’s bill does not appear to have a House companion measure.