New York governor says AI helped review state rules in months

In short: New York Governor Kathy Hochul says her administration used AI to review the state’s rules and policies in a couple of months.

What happened

Governor Kathy Hochul said her team is using AI to analyze “every single rule, regulation, and policy” in New York State. She shared this in an interview on Bloomberg’s Odd Lots podcast.

The goal is to find laws that are outdated and no longer make sense. Hochul gave examples, including a $25 fee to take a dog hunting and a rule that said pregnant people needed a permit to work after midnight.

Hochul said doing this kind of review the usual way would have taken staff about five years. With AI, she said the work was done in a couple of months. Think of it like using a search tool that can read a whole library quickly and flag the pages that look out of date.

The comments come shortly after New York put a pause of up to a year on new “hyperscale” AI data centers, which are very large buildings full of computers that help run AI systems. State lawmakers said they want time to write rules that protect residents from higher electricity bills and damage to natural resources.

Why it matters

State rules affect everyday life, from work requirements to fees and permits. If AI can help governments find and remove outdated rules faster, it could make public services simpler. At the same time, it raises practical questions about how officials double-check the AI’s findings before changing laws.

Source: The Verge AI