Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has been using AI to spy on the communications of federal workers to detect any anti-Donald Trump or anti-Elon Musk language, a Reuters report claimed, citing two sources. They said this was happening at the Environmental Protection Agency and they were not aware if this was happening in any other agency or not. “Be careful what you say, what you type and what you do,” a manager reportedly said. “We have been told they are looking for anti-Trump or anti-Musk language,” one said.
A Newsweek report said a spokesperson for the EPA told the publication that the EPA is not monitoring or transcribing phone calls, meetings or calendar entries and the report is categorically false.
The espionage concerns rose as hundreds of federal employees have been laid off in the past few weeks on the recommendations of DOGE in its cost-cutting bid.
The Reuters report said the DOGE team is using the Signal app to communicate, potentially violating federal record-keeping rules because messages on Signal can be set to disappear after a period of time. DOGE team, the Reuters report said, heavily deployed X’s Grok AI chatbot as part of their work slashing the federal government, but it is not exactly known how Grok was being used.
“The use of AI and Signal reinforces concerns among cybersecurity experts and government ethicists that DOGE is operating with limited transparency and that billionaire Musk or the Trump administration could use information gathered with AI to further their own interests or to go after political targets,” the Reuters report said.
Trump-appointed officials who had taken up EPA posts told managers that DOGE was using AI to monitor communication apps and software, including Microsoft Teams, which is widely used for virtual calls and chats, the report said. “We have been told they are looking for anti-Trump or anti-Musk language,” one said.
