A policy gap is threatening the Pentagon's AI innovation pipeline

Morgan Plummer, vice president of policy at Americans for Responsible Innovation, said the United States is operating in a policy vacuum when it comes to governing how artificial intelligence can be used in military systems. The current framework offers little clarity beyond general Pentagon guidance calling for appropriate levels of human judgment in military systems. The Trump administration recently designated Anthropic a supply chain risk. Plummer said the action stretches authorities designed to address threats from foreign adversaries and made the situation worse. This ambiguity, along with the reality that traditional government contracts are not designed to resolve disputes over the basic rules, forces government agencies and technology companies to interpret the rules themselves. Many artificial intelligence systems are built in startups, research labs and technology firms whose primary markets are commercial, Plummer noted. Plummer said companies will reasonably conclude that refusing to provide unrestricted access to their systems could trigger punitive government action. For many firms the rational response will be to avoid working with the government altogether. That outcome would set back years of trust building efforts between the Pentagon and the tech sector, including initiatives launched under former Defense Secretary Ash Carter such as the Defense Innovation Unit, Plummer said. The confrontation is the direct result of a policy vacuum that must be addressed, he said.