WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Friday released a memo calling on the U.S. military and national security agencies to accelerate the use of artificial intelligence, while acknowledging the need to protect civil liberties and maintain oversight of autonomous weapons systems.
The memo comes at a time of growing anxiety in American society about AI, from replacing people’s jobs to helping identify targets on the battlefield. The Trump administration is pushing to unleash the power of AI in the U.S. military, but some military leaders and Pentagon contractors are expressing caution and calling for guardrails to be put in place.
President Trump’s memo was addressed to many members of his cabinet, including the secretary of defense, homeland security, attorney general and director of national intelligence.
President Trump is calling for updated directives on autonomous weapons systems to take into account the rapidly evolving capabilities of AI. The bill directs the Department of Defense to “ensure intentional deployment of AI systems that respects chain of command and operational authority.”
The current directive, issued in 2023 under the Biden administration, says such weapons systems will be designed “to enable commanders and operators to exercise an appropriate level of human judgment regarding the use of force,” according to the Congressional Research Service.
Trump’s memo also restricts the use of AI to “censor free speech, instill ideological bias, or conduct unlawful surveillance of American citizens.”
“The use of AI by national security enterprises must always be consistent with the protection afforded by the Constitution and the laws and regulations that protect the civil liberties of the United States and the privacy of its citizens,” the memo states.
The Department of Defense has already accelerated its use of AI in recent years. This technology helps reduce the time it takes to identify and attack targets, while assisting with the mundane tasks of organizing equipment maintenance, supply lines, and other logistics.
However, concerns about the protection of civil liberties and human oversight of autonomous weapons systems are gaining increasing attention. They are at the center of a conflict that erupted this year as the Pentagon seeks to harness the power of American technology companies to boost the military’s AI capabilities.
Anthropic said it is seeking guarantees in the contract that the military will not use its technology for fully autonomous weapons or surveillance of U.S. citizens. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the company must authorize any use the Pentagon deems lawful.
Anthropic filed the lawsuit after President Trump tried to stop all federal agencies from using its chatbot, and Claude and Hegseth sought to designate the company as a supply chain risk, a designation meant to protect against sabotage of national security systems by foreign adversaries.
Concerns about military uses of AI arose during Israel’s wars against militants in Gaza and Lebanon, where the US tech giant secretly gave Israel target-tracking powers. However, the number of civilians killed also skyrocketed, raising concerns that these tools contributed to the deaths of innocent people.
U.S. military leaders attending the annual Special Forces Conference in Tampa, Florida, spoke about the benefits of AI and the need for human safety measures.
Adm. Frank Bradley, commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, told attendees that militaries “need to be very careful about how they employ (AI) and how it inspires the delivery of lethality.”
Bradley said he could see a future in which AI decides which targets to attack, but that “we humans have to have confidence that AI will only bring violence where it is intended.”
