Senator Accuses Pentagon of Coercing AI Firms to Drop Safety Rules

A U.S. senator is demanding the Pentagon explain whether it is pressuring artificial intelligence companies to abandon their own safety rules in order to secure lucrative defense contracts. Senator Edward Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, sent a formal letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in June 2025, citing troubling reports of officials intimidating AI vendors.

Markey's letter states that Department of Defense personnel have allegedly pushed companies to weaken or remove 'acceptable use policies.' These are the internal guardrails that typically ban AI from being used in autonomous weapons, mass surveillance, or lethal targeting without human control. The senator has given the Pentagon a deadline to clarify if contracts have been conditioned on stripping away these ethical safeguards.

The inquiry lands as Anthropic, an AI startup founded on a principle of rigorous safety, finds its defense work under a microscope. The company, creator of the Claude AI, has recently revised its policies to allow certain military and intelligence applications. After securing contracts through intermediaries like Palantir, Anthropic now argues that working with the national security sector is a responsible choice. This shift has caused internal strife and staff departures, raising questions about the durability of the industry's voluntary safety pledges.

With no comprehensive AI law in place, these corporate policies are the primary barrier against potentially dangerous uses. The Pentagon, under the Trump administration's push for faster technological deployment, is aggressively seeking AI for everything from logistics to battlefield support. Procurement officials have hinted that companies with restrictive policies may be at a disadvantage.

For AI firms facing immense financial pressure, the defense budget represents a powerful lure. Markey's probe tests whether self-regulation can survive when a customer as large as the U.S. government wants the rules changed. The answers could determine if Congress steps in with legally binding standards, or if the industry's safety promises simply fade away under the weight of market forces.