Ranking Members Coons, Reed introduce bill to require human safeguards around use of artificial intelligence in defense

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Chris Coons (D-Del.), ranking member for Defense Appropriations, and Jack Reed (D-R.I.), ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, introduced legislation to establish a framework to guide the rapid adoption and use of artificial intelligence by the Department of Defense (DOD) while prioritizing safety and the rule of law. The legislation comes following attempts by DOD to blacklist and discriminate against certain AI companies for mandating safeguards on new and rapidly evolving technology and prohibiting their use for mass surveillance. The Responsible Artificial Intelligence Defense (RAIDA) Act would require AI-enabled autonomous systems to be deployed in a way that ensures human operators are able to control, monitor, detect unintended behavior, and manually disengage or deactivate any deployed AI-enabled system, if necessary. It would prevent the use of AI for nuclear decision making and mass domestic surveillance of Americans. It would also instruct DOD to maximize AI adoption in defense, ensuring the United States leads in military AI quickly, safely, and lawfully. “The Department of Defense can use frontier AI models for rapid innovation to ensure that the United States maintains its military supremacy and edge in artificial intelligence without running roughshod over safety concerns,” said Ranking Member Coons . “Threatening our cutting-edge companies with legal and economic punishment when they balk at demands to perform illegal acts is not just un-American – it will stifle innovation, dissuade industry from collaborating with government, and allow China and our adversaries to build insurmountable leads in the field of AI. I’m proud to introduce this legislation to put in place necessary safeguards to prevent deadly accidents or misfires by autonomous weapons using new and evolving technologies, while also directing the Pentagon to utilize this cutting-edge technology to promote US national security.” “Artificial intelligence will continue to shape the battlespace of the future, and our military must be equipped with every tactical and technical advantage it needs to win in this complex environment,” said Senator Reed . “Simultaneously, we must ensure the Department of Defense has a comprehensive AI strategy that establishes sensible safeguards and provides a framework for other nations to ensure global military AI standards are adhered to. To begin, we should formalize international norms for military and civilian uses of AI to regulate areas where full human control over the technology is essential. The Responsible Artificial Intelligence Defense Act is a practical first step toward ensuring the United States military is a principled leader in AI use.” The Responsible Artificial Intelligence Defense Act would: Require human operators to retain the ability to monitor and manually deactivate autonomous systems Direct DOD to maximize use of AI and autonomous capabilities Require impact assessments for higher-risk AI capabilities to safeguard civil liberties Direct DOD to conduct rigorous testing before putting these weapons into the field Senator Coons has been vocal about the importance of U.S. leadership in AI. Last year, he introduced legislation limiting the sale of frontier chips to China – the bipartisan SAFE Chips Act – and he has demanded answers from senior Trump administration officials about their plans to export advanced chips. In 2024, Senator Reed and a bipartisan group of colleagues unveiled the first congressional framework to deal exclusively with the extreme risks posed by future developments in advanced AI models . The framework sought to establish federal oversight of frontier model hardware, development, and deployment to mitigate AI-enabled extreme risks from biological, chemical, cyber, and nuclear threats. In addition to serving as ranking member for Defense Appropriations, Senator Coons is a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations, Judiciary, Small Business and Entrepreneurship, and Ethics Committees. Senator Reed is also a leading member of the Appropriations Committee and the Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee where he is working to strengthen the cybersecurity resilience of America’s financial sector and people’s personal bank accounts amidst the growing risks of AI-enabled cyberattacks. The one-pager is available here . Full text of the bill is available here .