Schiff stepping into fight over AI guardrails for military

Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) is stepping into the fight over the use of AI in domestic mass surveillance and fully autonomous weapons, drafting legislation to put “commonsense safeguards” to protect privacy and the values of the American people. 

Schiff, a fierce critic of the Trump administration, told The Hill on Thursday that he will be introducing legislation in the “coming weeks” to codify “vital” protections around the use of AI in surveillance and warfare amid the standoff between the Pentagon and Anthropic around the agency’s access to the company’s AI models. 

“Over the past few weeks, it has become even more clear that there is an urgent need for guardrails on how AI is used by the Defense Department,” Schiff said in a statement. 

Schiff’s office has been in touch with industry leaders and experts to craft the upcoming legislation and is eyeing all possible legislative vehicles to include it in, including the upcoming National Defense Authorization Act, the senator’s spokesperson told The Hill. 

Schiff’s effort was first reported by Axios. 

Anthropic and the Pentagon have gone back and forth in a public spat over the safety guardrails on its AI models, and after talks fell through last month, President Trump ordered all federal agencies to stop using the company’s technology. 

The Pentagon labeled the company a supply chain risk, a designation that is typically slapped on foreign adversaries, preventing contractors from using the firm’s products. 

Anthropic sued the Pentagon after the Defense Department officially notified the company of the designation, saying Trump’s directive and the designation are “unprecedented and unlawful.”

The Pentagon told senior leadership and military commanders in a March 6 memo that they have 180 days to remove all of Anthropic’s AI products from their systems, with the department saying the company’s products pose an “unacceptable supply chain risk for use in all systems and networks.” 

Julia Shapero contributed

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