AI contract restrictions could threaten military missions: US official

A senior Pentagon official said on Tuesday that commercial AI contracts signed under the Biden administration contained sweeping operational restrictions that threatened to paralyse U.S. military missions in real time, including the ability to plan and execute combat operations.

Emil Michael, under secretary of defence 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.