DOGE's AI-Powered Cuts to Humanities Grants Face Constitutional Scrutiny

A federal lawsuit is challenging the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk in its early days, for allegedly violating First Amendment and equal-protection rights through cuts to National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) grants.

The lawsuit claims DOGE used ChatGPT to screen NEH proposals for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) content. The chatbot flagged a $349,000 HVAC grant to the High Point Museum in North Carolina as DEI, despite its purpose being to replace an aging system preserving its collections.

DOGE cancelled the grant, but the museum was able to recover about 70% of the award through a termination clause. The chatbot flagged only two of the 11 HVAC-related proposals it reviewed as DEI.

The lawsuit accuses DOGE of letting AI do the work in making these cuts, which erased roughly half the agency's annual budget. Acting NEH chairman Michael McDonald said that many targeted projects were harmless in terms of promoting DEI, suggesting deficit reduction partly drove the cuts.