Background: What is happening?

The US government is using AI technologies in its ongoing invasions into other countries, as well as on communities within the US. In July last year, The Pentagon awarded Anthropic, OpenAI, Google and xAI $200 million contracts to develop AI capabilities that would advance US national security.  The Pentagon announced in January that it is looking to accelerate its uses of AI, saying the technology could help the military “rapidly convert intelligence data” and “make our Warfighters more lethal and efficient.” The US also uses AI technology from Palantir, a company that provides data analytics tools to government customers for intelligence gathering, surveillance, counterterrorism and military purposes. The US military used AI technology in its operation to capture former Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro and in its recent attacks on Iran.

Anthropic has asked the Pentagon to agree to certain guardrails including restrictions on using Claude to conduct mass surveillance of Americans and not using the technology for final targeting decisions in military operations without any human involvement. Instead, the Pentagon gave an ultimatum to the company to give the US military unrestricted use of its AI technology or face a ban from all government contracts. They demanded the ability to use Claude for “all lawful purposes” and contended that Anthropic’s usage concerns were not material because it’s already illegal for the Pentagon to conduct mass surveillance of Americans, and internal policies restrict the military from using fully autonomous weapons.

Leaving life and death decisions to machines is dangerous and raises serious ethical concerns. These systems can malfunction, misidentify targets, or be manipulated. It undermines fundamental rights, amplifies biases and discrimination, concentrates power in unaccountable systems and increases the risk of accidental or unjust violence. Anthropic’s Claude, like other AI models, “is not immune from hallucinations and not reliable enough to avoid potentially lethal mistakes, like unintended escalation or mission failure without human judgment.” We cannot allow the continued use of this technology at the cost of human dignity, democratic freedoms, and global peace. Congress must act now to stop the use of AI for surveillance in warfare.