Sponsor
Elissa Slotkin
Senator · D-MI
Senator · D-MI
The bill strengthens safeguards and transparency around military AI to protect civilians and preserve human control, but it also gives the Secretary short-term waiver power and imposes constraints that may complicate interagency cooperation and slow AI adoption.
All Americans (taxpayers and service members): U.S. nuclear launch decisions are barred from being automated by AI, reducing the risk of accidental or unauthorized nuclear strikes.
Service members: the bill limits DoD use of fully autonomous lethal weapons so humans retain judgment in life-or-death decisions.
Americans (taxpayers and communities): the bill restricts DoD domestic surveillance uses of AI, protecting people from profiling or targeting without individualized legal basis.
Service members and taxpayers: the Secretary of Defense may waive the autonomous-lethal-use ban for up to two years, enabling temporary deployment of such systems without sustained congressional approval.
Military personnel and taxpayers: the waiver authority is concentrated in a single non-delegable official, raising accountability and continuity risks if the power is misused.
Congress and taxpayers: the five-day notification window after a waiver may be too short for meaningful review of complex classified justifications.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Places operational limits on DoD AI: bans AI-driven nuclear launch, restricts domestic monitoring/targeting of U.S. persons without individualized legal basis, and curbs lethal autonomous weapons unless certified and reported to Congress.
Official title: Provide for limitations on the use of artificial intelligence by Department of Defense.
Introduced March 17, 2026 by Elissa Slotkin · Last progress March 17, 2026
Limits how the Department of Defense can use artificial intelligence by banning AI control of nuclear launch, restricting domestic monitoring or targeting without an individualized legal basis, and prohibiting fully autonomous lethal force unless strict human oversight and certifications are met. The Secretary of Defense may grant a temporary, one-year waiver (renewable once) for autonomous lethal systems only when extraordinary national security needs are certified to congressional defense committees with required notifications and reporting.