Florida Congresswoman denies staff used Claude AI to draft defense bill after viral screenshot

Congresswoman denies staff used AI to write defense funding amendment

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) says her staff used AI for "spellcheck" in an amendment summary for a major defense bill, but denies it was used for the bill text itself and says "NO Legislation is ever drafted with AI." Luna issued the response after accounts on X began sharing screenshots of an amendment summary for the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act. It reads: "Identical to H.R. 100 (118th Congress).11:25 AM????Claude responded: Requires the Secretary of Defense to designate Department of Defense activities, support, and operations at the southwest land border as a named operation with..." At first, Luna's response seemingly indicated Claude had been used for amendment text. Her post said that "staff used AI to correct a draft text and didn't edit." Luna added: "Not a shocker. Most staff use it. I have told them to make sure they are double checking and more thorough." After users on X began speculating that her staff is using the technology to write bills, Luna edited her response: "Yeah my staff used AI to spell/grammar check the amendment SUMMARY, not the actual amendment text itself," her post now reads. She followed it up with another: "FYI NO Legislation is ever drafted with AI. All bill text from the House comes from the House Legislative Council which is prohibited from using AI. The screenshot you're referencing is an AI summary of the bill that's also used for spellcheck, cmon man 🤣". As AI tools become more common in workplaces, so are references to the AI chatbots in places where they shouldn't be. Over the past few years, judges have caught lawyers using AI chatbots to draft legal filings filled with fake citations. Lawmakers around the globe are turning to the technology as well, with city officials in Brazil unknowingly approving an ordinance written with ChatGPT. Arizona state representative Alexander Kolodin has also told The Verge that he's used ChatGPT to write state-level legislation.

C'mon, you don't need an AI to check your spelling - Engadget

Florida Republican claimed to use Claude as a proofreader, nothing else. If there's one thing we love more than catching a politician doing something silly, it's the excuse they confect to try and get out of it. The latest involves Florida Republican Anna Paulina Luna, who was caught using AI in a draft amendment to a bill because the text included the phrase "Claude responded:." Which might hint that someone pasted in a conversation with the Anthropic chatbot of the same name and forgot to hide it. Luna was quick to shut down the accusation, posting on X (as reported by Gizmodo), that her staff "used AI to correct a draft text and didn't edit," adding that it's "not a shocker" as "most staff use it." Not long after, her posts were deleted, probably because it wouldn't be ideal to admit you used AI to do your job for you. She then posted an amended explanation, saying "my staff used AI to spell/grammar check the amendment SUMMARY, not the actual amendment text itself." Shortly after, she posted again saying "FYI NO Legislation is ever drafted with AI," and that screenshot was merely depicting an "AI summary of the bill that's also used for spellcheck." She also asked "what dork planted this story?" and, to further bolster her reasonable credentials, threw in a tears of joy emoji for good measure. Now, look, I'm just a simple, country lawyer with none of your highfaultin' fancy ways, so I entirely believe Luna's response. After all, it's very reasonable for someone to use an AI chatbot to check their spelling and grammar, since that feature hasn't been widely available on computers since Luna was six years old. Hell, even if you used Superhuman's (Grammarly) brand of ghoulish AI to check your spelling and grammar, it wouldn't insert references to its brand into the text of the documents you're working on. Which makes me think that, you know, maybe parts of this story don't quite check out.

MAGA Congresswoman Denies Using AI to Write Bill: 'Love Claude but Grok Is Way More Savage'

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, a Florida Republican, defended her staff on Wednesday after a screenshot of legislative text went viral for including the words "Claude responded." The natural assumption online was that the bill was written using AI, but Luna denied it. Kind of. The text in question turned out to be a bill summary for the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act, and it seems pretty clear that Anthropic's Claude was used, with everything just copied and pasted from the chatbot: At first, Luna responded to the viral tweet with what seemed like an admission that her staff uses it to "correct" legislation, though it wasn't clear how extensive these corrections might be. "Yeah my staff used AI to correct a draft text and didn't edit," tweeted Luna. "Not a shocker. Most staff use it. I have told them to make sure they are double checking and more thorough. What dork planted this story? Btw love Claude but Grok is way more savage." But that tweet was deleted. Seemingly, because Luna had admitted that AI was used to write the actual text of the bill. Luna then sent another tweet with different wording: "Yeah my staff used AI to spell/grammar check the amendment SUMMARY, not the actual amendment text itself. Not a shocker. Most staff use it. I have told them to make sure they are double checking and more thorough. What dork planted this story? Btw love Claude but Grok is way more savage." The follow-up tweet, as you can see, made it more explicit that Claude was only used to correct a summary of the amendment, not the amendment itself. But it defies common sense that people who use AI for summaries wouldn't also use AI chatbots to write bills. In another tweet, Luna tried to adopt a tone of ridicule, as though the people who noticed the AI usage were being stupid and hysterical: "FYI NO Legislation is ever drafted with AI. All bill text from the House comes from the House Legislative Council which is prohibited from using AI. The screenshot you're referencing is an AI summary of the bill that's also used for spellcheck, cmon man" But if you were to ask the average American whether members of Congress should be using AI to craft legislation, it's a safe bet many people would be skeptical. After all, just 16% of American adults believe AI will positively impact society, according to the latest polling from Pew Research. Handing over the power to legislate to Claude, or any other chatbot for that matter, seems like a really dystopian idea. Nobody wants Skynet to write our laws. Luna is known as one of President Donald Trump's fiercest defenders, but also one of the odder Republicans on Capitol Hill. The congresswoman appeared on Joe Rogan's podcast last year to proclaim that aliens might actually be "interdimensional beings." And among her defenses of AI editing on Wednesday, she also found time to insist that the Democratic Party is "anti-white and wants to re-distribute your wealth." She's solidly MAGA through and through.