How to use artificial intelligence to draw up the federal regulations without breaking the law in the process

Terry Gerton You are a long -term advocate for smarter regulations and reform of the regulations. I want to start getting your general thoughts about the plan of the Trump administration to use AI to revise existing regulations.

Susan Dudley We recently saw a leaked Dia from July and I wrote about it in a recent Forbes column. And I think it’s very daring and aggressive. So the sliding deck suggests that they will use AI, and with the help of AI they can reduce the amount of existing regulations by half. And my conclusion that DECK assesses is that it is quite naive.

Terry Gerton Not all regulation is bad, but there is a lot. Do you see a positive role for AI if you are considering assessing regulations? How can it help?

Susan Dudley Yes, I think AI can be very valuable. It can be useful for screening existing regulations, whereby legal requirements are compared with the legal requirements. So that first screen can, I think, be extremely valuable. I think it can also be useful for assessing public comments, because regulations have to go through notification and have to comment and show and sort and categorize what hundreds of thousands of reactions could be. I think AI will be able to do that very efficiently. And I would also like to see AI, new techniques, but also more traditional AI tools, evaluate or actually achieve their expected effects.

Terry Gerton How would you see that AI is being implemented to take on some of the challenges that are inherent in a broad regulatory assessment?

Susan Dudley AI In Virginia they used AI to look at the legal requirements with which the regulatory authorities are confronted and evaluate to what extent the regulations go beyond those requirements. That’s a first step. Then, then Virginia, then real people, the policy officers, the lawyers, the analysts, will then look at that list and say: oh, there are very good reasons to go beyond the legal mandate and here is why, but it may also be highlighted in which it might not be thought, and that they can cut off some prescriptions. Another thing they do in Virginia that I think that is valuable is a comparative view of what other states are doing. So they see if they demand, for example, that Haarbraiders go through 100 hours of training, while another state may need 30 or 50, to take a step back and say, why do we do it differently and can we make it easier for small companies and others to thrive in our state?

Terry Gerton So some basic comparisons, some look at frameworks, some point to where there are bijters, those are the kind of things that you think is a useful tool.

Susan Dudley Yes, I think it can be extremely valuable.

Terry Gerton What are some things that you think AI should not be used?

Susan Dudley It should not be used to draw up a regulation, it should certainly not be used without careful human involvement. So not only a person to perhaps check it at the end, but you need a person every step. The regulation process is a complicated and time -consuming legal process that first requires, looking at the legal authority, but then also performs substantive analysis -based analysis. And that is something that AI can help. But you really need people to evaluate. I think the other of the regulatory systems is that it is often tightened. So agencies will issue a definitive regulation, and I know that, as you know well, the courts, their parties can sue and intervene. What courts are going to do is evaluate the supporting documentation that you have provided for the new rule, and comparing it with what was previously provided, a sloppy or short written AI support document will not be able to compare with hundreds of thousands of pages that may be available in the original.

Terry Gerton I speak with Susan Dudley. She is the founder of the Regulatory Studies Center at George Washington University. Susan, with that kind of reserved in mind, you mentioned in your Forbes article only real concern about the Doge -statement that they can reduce the time to deregulate by 93%. Tell me about your concern about that number.

Susan Dudley I mean, I think they identify a real problem, but I think they are first optimistic about the fraction of the regulations that are not required or are not mandatory. So there have been recent decisions from the Supreme Court that say that agencies must adhere more closer to their legal, the authority that the legal language grants them. But these 50% would suggest that agencies that achieved too much in 50% of the regulations that are in the books, and I think that probably exaggerates things. I think it also ignores the need for a record to support the new regulation, and we know that agencies should offer a record just as robust, to deregulate as they did to regulate, according to the decision of the state of 40 years ago. And that includes both legal records to support the new legal interpretation, but also the substantive factual scientific file. And I think that is what seems to be missing in at least what I understand from the Doge -storage.

Terry Gerton So assuming that they continue to use AI to deregulate, and those slides have a fairly tight timeline, at the end of September, beginning of October, what would you suggest that they have set as a supervisory mechanism to ensure that they do not make any of the mistakes that you simply articulated?

Susan Dudley I think they have to pay careful attention to the process risk. So they can succeed. So as you say, we must see deregulation proposals rolled out in the federal register now, September and October, according to that schedule. And then a quick change in the agencies after responding to 30 or 60 days of public commentary, and then definitive regulations issued by January 20, 2026. So as you say, it is a very aggressive timetable and daring goal. And even if they reach that deadline, I think what they have forgotten that what comes after is the court case. And will that record that they have developed, will stand up to judicial investigation? And I think it won’t do it unless they give more time and care to drawing up those revisions.

Terry Gerton How much of a market disruption would you anticipate 50% deregulation and in such a short period? How will companies and agencies adapt to such a perhaps radical change in the legal structure?

Susan Dudley Yes, I think that’s a great question, and I suspect that in many cases they won’t do that. For regulations that have been present for a while, they are part of business practices. Companies will not say, oh, we will no longer offer disclosure for certain things because it is part of good business practice. So there may be some regulations that are purely difficult and have no significant benefits. And I saw that companies were willing not to meet that. But yes, I think it will not be that great a disturbance, or the benefits that the Trump administration would expect by deregulation can be much less because they are already part of the way people do business.

Terry Gerton Do you think there are areas where deregulation can go too far, especially in areas that are associated with public safety, public well -being?

Susan Dudley I tend to believe that the incentives are there to protect your customers, to protect citizens, and especially, we talk about lawsuits, but you would experience a lot of liability if you would do things that you knew they would be dangerous. So I am probably less worried than some on that ground.

Terry Gerton What advice would you have for policy makers and legislators who really want to pursue modernization with the help of AI? Are there certain guardrails that you want to know that they put in place before they start?

Susan Dudley I think they should really think about the unintended consequences and the implications of changes. So you could see, AI can identify an area that is not required by the articles of association or not mandatory, but what are the connections with other parts of the regulatory system? Now, back to your first question, Terry, that is something that I could see that AI could do well is to look at all those connections and identify areas where some regulations can be in conflict with others. I mean, you hear that sometimes small companies cannot do this because one regulation tells me that I have to do something and the other tells me the opposite. But we could create those inconsistencies if they are not careful.

Terry Gerton It sounds like you’re coming back where many advisers do with AI, what people should be in height.

Susan Dudley I think that’s right. I think you really need experts for both legal and policy arguments.