Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass) has slammed the Pentagon’s agreement with Sam Altman-led OpenAI, cautioning against the use of artificial intelligence for mass surveillance over Americans and autonomous robots that can cause lethal harm to people.

Mass Surveillance, Killer Robots

In a video released on X on Monday, Warren raised alarm over the use of AI tools by the Department of War, led by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, sharing that the Pentagon was collaborating with artificial intelligence company Anthropic. “The Trump administration forced Anthropic to remove two safeguards on its AI technology,” Warren said.

The Senator then outlined that Anthropic was asked to remove the safeguards that prevented the government from conducting “mass surveillance,” and “to prevent the use of AI to deploy fully autonomous weapons that could kill civilians without human oversight.”

Warren shared how, following its refusal to remove the safeguards, “Pete Hegseth and the Department of Defense essentially blacklisted the company,” she said. She also drew attention to the agency’s deal with OpenAI, which “doesn’t appear to include the same safeguards,” governing the technology and its applications.

She slammed the President Donald Trump administration for “seeking retribution” against American companies that refuse to “help it spy on Americans,” Warren said, calling the move a “tremendous abuse of power.” She also sought details on the OpenAI contract, asking if the conditions allowed the government to conduct mass surveillance and “build killer robots?”

The OpenAI, Anthropic And Department Of War Deal

It’s worth noting that Altman shared that the Pentagon had agreed to the company’s conditions of having safeguards in place, as well as having “technical safeguards” built into the technology. While the administration maintained that it did not intend to use the technology for those purposes.

Anthropic had signed a $200 million contract with the Pentagon to allow its Claude AI to be used on classified government networks by the Department of War. Anthropic recently secured a boost in its lawsuit against the Trump administration for blacklisting the company.

Palantir CEO Backs AI-Powered Warfare

AI applications in the military were also backed by Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:PLTR) CEO Alex Karp, who said that AI tools would provide the U.S. and its allies a strategic edge over other countries as tensions continue to escalate in the Middle East amid the war with Iran.

Bernie Sanders’ Prediction, Figure AI Makes White House Debut

Warren isn’t the only one sounding an alarm over the use of physical AI in the military. Last year, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) also predicted that humanity wasn’t far away from “the development of robotic soldiers.” He also cautioned against the application of technology in warfare, sharing that the dynamics of conflicts could change if stakeholders did not need to “worry about loss of life.”

Meanwhile, Figure AI, a robotics company backed by the likes of NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA), debuted its Figure 03 robot in an appearance alongside First Lady Melania Trump, who shared her vision of having robot teachers in classrooms across the U.S.

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