Politico published a blog post yesterday (August 18), reporting that artificial intelligence (AI) is entering the US congressional legislative process. A large number of AI-assisted proposals are flooding Congress, but lawyers are spending more time cleaning up erroneous drafts.
The report noted that as more congressional offices use ChatGPT and Claude chatbots to draft proposals, the US House Office of Legislative Counsel has received a large number of AI-generated bill drafts. Related images are shown below:
The report said these texts contain numerous omissions and errors. The tool originally intended to speed up the process is instead forcing lawyers to spend more time revising machine-generated content.
The main problems concern details in legal texts. AI may confuse tax credits, tax deductions, tax exclusions, and grants, or use the term “state” inaccurately, causing the District of Columbia and tribal nations to be excluded from the applicable scope.
Lawyer and technology specialist Ali Hershowitz also said that AI-generated drafts may incorrectly cite existing laws. Such errors could introduce “thousands of loopholes” into the US legal system.
Daniel Schuman, executive director of the Institute for American Governance, believes that commercial AI tools lack the attention to detail and nuanced legal understanding required to draft legislation.
To reduce the review burden, the Office of Legislative Counsel is developing specialized software. The tool can visually show how a new proposal would change existing law.