A group of Democratic senators is pushing to impose firm limits on how the U.S. military can use artificial intelligence, including barring the technology from launching nuclear weapons or surveilling Americans, The Hill reported.

The effort comes as Congress begins debating the annual defense policy bill, bringing a long-running tech ethics dispute into one of Washington's most closely watched fights over AI.

What's happening?

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York introduced the Secure and Accountable Military AI Act this week and plans to push parts of it into the Senate's version of the National Defense Authorization Act.

According to The Hill, the proposal would bar AI from being used to launch nuclear weapons, monitor Americans, or develop or deploy autonomous weapons.

It would also require a human to be involved in decisions about the use of force, detention, or "high-consequence actions," including nuclear command and control, lethal targeting, domestic surveillance, and cyber operations. Those actions would also require approval from a senior official.

"The most critical decisions affecting our national security and the lives of our service members must always be made by human beings, not unaccountable machines," Gillibrand said in a statement.

The measure comes as the Pentagon expands its use of AI across classified networks and after a public dispute with AI company Anthropic over whether military contracts should permit "all lawful uses" of advanced AI systems.

Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan is also preparing a similar amendment that would prevent the Pentagon from using autonomous weapons to kill without human oversight, as well as from using AI to launch nuclear weapons or spy on Americans, The Hill previously reported.

Why does it matter?

The debate goes beyond battlefield technology to broader questions about privacy, safety, and whether life-or-death decisions could be handed over to software that can fail, misread information, or behave unpredictably.

It also reflects wider concerns about the rapid expansion of AI, including the strain that large-scale computing can place on energy grids and water systems.

What are people saying?

Gillibrand warned that the Pentagon is moving toward "incredibly powerful AI technology without commonsense guardrails in place," adding that the current path "could have catastrophic consequences that make all of us less safe."

Vice President JD Vance recently said, "The thing I worry about most with AI is how it will change warfare."

"If the warfare of the future is to live up to the moral values of our ancestors, decisions over life and death must be made by humans and not machines," he said in a speech to Air Force Academy graduates.

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