AI contract restrictions could threaten military missions, US official says

WASHINGTON, March 3 (Reuters) – A senior Pentagon official said on Tuesday that commercial AI contracts signed under the Biden administration contained sweeping operational restrictions that threatened to paralyze U.S. military missions in ​real time, including the ability to plan and execute combat operations.
Emil Michael, under secretary ‌of defense for research and engineering, described a moment of alarm when he reviewed the terms governing AI models already embedded in some of the military’s most sensitive commands. He did not name the AI provider whose contracts ​he was reviewing.
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His comments came at the American Dynamism Summit in Washington, a gathering of ​technology companies keen on space and national security work. The summit occurred just ⁠days after a disagreement over how the Pentagon could use Anthropic’s powerful and widely used AI ​tools, leading President Donald Trump to ban the startup from government business and label it a national security ​risk.