DOGE uses AI to monitor federal employees for Trump criticism
Reuters reportedly found that the Department of Government Efficiency, led by Elon Musk, uses AI including the Grok chatbot to monitor communications of federal employees for criticism of President Trump. The monitoring reportedly targets at least the EPA, and ethics experts expressed concern that it could violate federal records laws and be used for political control.
What happened
According to Reuters sources, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) under Elon Musk uses artificial intelligence to monitor communications of at least one federal agency for criticism of President Donald Trump and his plans.
Trump-appointed EPA officials informed agency managers that Musk's team monitors employee software including Microsoft Teams, reportedly searching for messages critical of Trump or Musk. The DOGE team uses the Grok chatbot from xAI for government oversight and the encrypted messenger Signal for internal communication.
Reported impact
Ethics and cybersecurity experts expressed concern about limited transparency in DOGE operations, which they believe could be used for political control and harassment of federal employees. One expert noted that using Signal for communications that should be preserved in federal archives would violate federal records law.
Index analysis
Reuters interviewed approximately 20 people familiar with DOGE activities and reviewed hundreds of pages of documents. The investigation found that Musk's team has begun deploying AI across multiple agencies, with EPA being a documented case.
Governance controls
The White House, Elon Musk, and DOGE did not comment on the situation. Reuters was unable to independently verify the full extent of implementation of these systems.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.