Federal workers fear Musk's 'efficiency' agency is using AI to spy on them: 'They are omnipresent'

At the Department of Veterans Affairs, a senior official warned employees in an email that virtual meetings were being secretly recorded. Anyone dissatisfied with Donald Trump's decisions should be careful about voicing their opinions, the official cautioned. Over at the state department, IT staff said new monitoring software has been loaded onto computers. Some staffers have started using white noise machines in their offices, or have even turned on an office breakroom sink, to muffle conversations in case there might be any hot mics within range. A supervisor at one water management organization that works closely with the Environmental Protection Agency sent a warning to staffers that their meetings and phone calls with the agency were being monitored by an artificial intelligence tool.