Top Democrats on the House and Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committees are raising alarms over the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) use of artificial intelligence to cancel hundreds of contracts at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), govexec reported. 

During a June 11 forum led by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), lawmakers criticized the lack of transparency and oversight in the AI-driven process, which allegedly led to arbitrary contract terminations.

Blumenthal referenced a recent ProPublica report revealing that a now-dismissed DOGE software engineer developed an error-prone AI tool used to identify contracts for termination. 

Lawmakers argue the process lacked individualized human review, risking harm to veteran services. One affected contractor, Aptive Resources, was supporting VA’s electronic health record modernization but saw its contract abruptly cancelled despite ongoing agency support for the program.

Interestingly, the DOGE employee was later dismissed after publicly admitting that “mistakes were made” with the AI tool he developed.

The VA stated in March that it had cut 585 “non-mission-critical” contracts as part of a broader cost-cutting initiative.