Democratic Senator presents bill to limit use of AI in the armed forces
Seeks to prevent AI from making autonomous decisions to eliminate targets, and prohibit its use in mass surveillance schemes against citizens
In an effort to curb technological autonomy on the battlefield and protect citizens' privacy, Democratic Senator Elissa Slotkin of Michigan introduced a bill that seeks to strictly regulate the Pentagon's use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), in an attempt to Regulating a technology that is advancing faster than the current legal framework.
The proposal seeks to enshrine into law two current Pentagon directives: preventing AI from making autonomous decisions to eliminate targets, and prohibiting its use in mass surveillance schemes against U.S. citizens.
Likewise, the proposal establishes an inviolable “red line” by prohibiting this technology from being used to launch or detonate nuclear weapons, ensuring that human control prevails in decisions involving lethal force.
“Our political system is flawed; we focus more on other issues than on the use of AI in matters of lethal force.” He warned that the political system has failed to prioritize the debate on the use of AI. “It is our responsibility to legislate,” he told NBC News.
Tensions with the Tech Industry
The initiative comes amid a conflict between the federal government and the AI ??company Anthropic, which refused to relax ethical restrictions on the use of its models. The dispute resulted in an order from President Donald Trump for federal agencies to stop using this technology within six months.
For his part, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth argued that the company poses a risk to the supply chain, even though its tools have been used in military operations, including target identification in the conflict with Iran.
Anthropic responded with a lawsuit, while Slotkin maintains that his project could have prevented the confrontation.The legislator emphasized that the lack of clear rules could generate millions of dollars in costs for taxpayers by forcing the replacement of already integrated technologies. The five-page bill, currently without co-sponsors, seeks to influence the debate on the upcoming National Defense Authorization Law, which will be discussed at the end of the year.