impact on the environment and on cognition.
U.S. Senator Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) put forward legislation aimed at regulating the government’s application of artificial intelligence. This legislation is partly a reaction to a recent public confrontation between AI firm Anthropic and the Department of Defense concerning defense contracts. Executives at Anthropic expressed worries about how the U.S. government was utilizing its technology, especially in relation to domestic surveillance and autonomous weaponry.
The Pentagon asserted that it already has restrictions in effect that prevent the use of AI for enabling mass surveillance by the military or for making autonomous kill decisions. Anthropic continued to doubt that the current policies were free of loopholes that the administration might take advantage of. In response, the Pentagon labeled the company as a supply chain risk, terminated its contract, and directed all federal agencies to sever associations with Anthropic. The company is presently pursuing legal action regarding this classification.