Now that the headline got your attention, it’s not a joke. Apparently, the Trump administration will start drafting important federal regulation with Google Gemini. They aren’t going to start with something small. Why would they? Go big or go home is what I say. So they are going to start with the Department of Transportation, according to ProPublica.
The reporting indicates that it was presented to DOT staffers in December. Agency attorney Daniel Cohen wrote to colleagues about AI’s “potential to revolutionize the way we draft rulemakings.” Gregory Zerzan, the agency’s general counsel, has indicated that President Donald Trump is “very excited by this initiative”. Also that DOT will be “the first agency that is fully enabled to use AI to draft rules.” This does suggest a pilot program of sorts, with eventual plans to bring AI to other departments.
It is vital to note that the Department of Transportation is important. They regulate safety standards for commercial aircraft. You know the ones that have been crashing since Trump took office? How hazardous materials are transported. And, driver qualifications.
How Can AI Federal Regulation Go Wrong?
Zerzan doesn’t seem that interested in high-quality regulations. ProPublica received transcripts of a meeting in which he declared that “we don’t need the perfect rule on XYZ. We don’t even need a very good rule on XYZ.” He went on to say that “we want good enough” and that “we’re flooding the zone.”
“It shouldn’t take you more than 20 minutes to get a draft rule out of Gemini,” Zerzan said. The plan is to compress the timeline in which transportation regulations are written and reviewed. Yes, because this is where you want to cut corners. Especially when the Transportation Secretary said travel would be smoother if people dressed up to the airport.
This is going to be bad. With random AI hallucinations, people will pay the price. The sad thing is that AI bubble will burst and it will be too late.