Slotkin introduces bill limiting Pentagon AI use

Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) moved ahead with efforts to limit the Pentagon’s use of artificial intelligence, introducing a bill on Tuesday that would establish guardrails related to autonomous and nuclear weapons. 

The bill, titled the AI Guardrails Act, would prohibit the Department of Defense from using autonomous weapons to kill without human authorization, and using AI for domestic mass surveillance and nuclear weapons launch. 

It is the latest pushback from Democrats after the Pentagon cut ties with AI firm Anthropic earlier this month and took the unprecedented move to designate the company a supply chain risk. President Trump also directed federal civilian agencies to immediately stop using Anthropic’s products. 

Slotkin’s bill appears to touch on the assurances Anthropic pressed the Pentagon for, including specific restrictions on mass domestic surveillance and fully autonomous lethal weapons. The DOD insisted on using an “all lawful purposes” standard and negotiations fell apart as a result. 

“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 in a press release Tuesday, adding, “AI is going to shape the future of 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. This is just common sense.”

Slotkin argued her bill is consistent with the Trump administration’s AI Action Plan, which includes calls on the U.S. to “aggressively adopt” AI for the Armed Forces, while ensuring it is “secure and reliable.” 

“Militaries must also lay out which decisions must remain under human control regardless of the merits of AI-enabled decision-making,” Slotkin’s office said in a fact sheet about the bill. “Some military command decisions are too risky and too consequential for machines to decide.” 

Slotkin’s Democratic colleague, Sen. Adam Schiff (Calif.) told The Hill last week that he would introduce legislation in the coming weeks to codify protections around the use of AI in surveillance and warfare. HIs office has been in touch with industry leaders for the legislation and is also considering its inclusion in the upcoming National Defense Authorization Act, according to the senator’s spokesperson. 

In the House, Rep. Sam Liccardo (D-Calif.) introduced an amendment to the Defense Production Act to prohibit federal agencies from “retaliating” against high-risk technology vendors and developers that try to limit the deployment of their technology “in ways to mitigate the risk to United States citizens.”  The amendment failed on a party line vote earlier this month. 

Anthropic has sued the Trump administration, asking the courts for a temporary halt on supply chain designation, which is typically reserved for companies of foreign adversaries. 

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