"The plan was presented to DOT staff last monthat a demonstration of AI's"potential to revolutionize the way we draft rulemakings," agency attorney Daniel Cohenwrote to colleagues.The demonstration, Cohen wrote, would showcase "exciting new AI tools available to DOT rule writers to help us do our job better and faster." Discussion of the plan continued among agency leadership last week, according to meeting notes reviewed by ProPublica."
"Zerzan seemed to suggest that the DOT was at the vanguard of a broader federal effort, calling the department the "point of the spear" and "the first agency that is fully enabled to use AI to draft rules." Zerzan appeared interested mainly in the quantity of regulations that AI could produce, not their quality. "We don't need the perfect rule on XYZ. We don't even need a very good rule on XYZ," he said, according to the meeting notes. "We want good enough.""
The Trump administration intends to use artificial intelligence to draft federal transportation regulations, based on Department of Transportation records and staff interviews. DOT attorneys presented AI as having the potential to revolutionize rule drafting and showcased tools to help rule writers produce work faster. Agency leadership discussed making DOT an early adopter and scaling AI-generated rule production, with the general counsel endorsing high-volume, "good enough" output rather than perfection. Some DOT staffers expressed alarm because DOT rules govern critical transportation safety areas, including aviation, pipelines, and hazardous freight, where poor regulatory quality could create safety and legal risks.
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