AI watchdog in Trump-era raises legal and ethical concerns

The DOGE team, operating within the Trump administration, is responsible for monitoring communication in federal agencies, using artificial intelligence to detect hostility towards the president and his policies. This technology raises serious ethical and legal concerns, as it may also violate regulations on the storage of government documents, Reuters states.

Kathleen Clark, a government ethics specialist at Washington University, explained that failing to preserve all messages in federal records while using the Signal app would constitute illegal conduct.

Moreover, the use of artificial intelligence to monitor communication for "anti-Trump" or "anti-Musk" signals raises questions about abuse of power and the extent to which such actions can be used to pursue political opponents, the report states.

Particularly in the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), it was noted that officials have been informed that DOGE uses AI to monitor communications and search for hostile comments. Reuters sources point out that such actions could be considered an attempt to suppress inconvenient voices and violate employees' rights to freedom of speech.

Additionally, the use of tools like Google Docs for working on documents, without proper verification mechanisms, raises concerns about the transparency of administrative processes and compliance with government documentation regulations. According to expert Clark, this appears to be a misuse of governmental authority aimed at restricting or discouraging speech that the U.S. president finds unfavorable.

Clark added that these actions could suppress freedom of speech in the government, posing a threat to democratic processes.