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Lawmaker says staff used AI only for spellcheck on defense bill summary
A member of Congress stated that staff used AI tools solely for grammar and spellcheck on an amendment summary for the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act. The response followed posts on X sharing screenshots of the summary that referenced an AI chatbot.
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A member of Congress said staff used AI for spellcheck and grammar checks on an amendment summary for the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act but not on the bill text itself. The statement came after accounts on X shared screenshots of the summary. The text included a line that read "Claude responded" followed by a description of a defense provision.
Initial and revised statements The first response indicated that staff used AI to correct draft text. It added that most staff use the tools and that double-checking is required. The statement was later edited to specify that AI was used only on the amendment summary, not the amendment text.
A follow-up post said all House bill text comes from the House Legislative Council, which is prohibited from using AI.
AI use in government The episode follows other reported instances of AI appearing in official documents. Judges have identified lawyers using AI chatbots to draft filings that contained fabricated citations. Officials in Brazil approved an ordinance written with ChatGPT, and an Arizona state representative has said ChatGPT was used to draft state legislation.
