New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced that her administration is using AI to analyze every state rule and regulation to identify outdated laws—a task she said would have taken five years at staff level but was completed in a couple of months.
The effort has already surfaced antiquated requirements such as a $25 fee for dog hunting and a permit requirement for pregnant workers at night.
Though Hochul recently signed a moratorium on new AI data centers in the state, she views AI itself as a powerful tool for making government more efficient and responsive.
What happened
New York Governor Kathy Hochul revealed that her team is using AI to analyze every regulation and policy in the state to identify outdated legislation. Examples include a $25 fee to take a dog hunting and a requirement for pregnant people to obtain a permit to work after midnight. Hochul said the review, which would have taken five years at staff level, was completed in a couple of months with AI.
Why it matters
The review allows Hochul and state agencies to remove outdated rules that no longer serve residents. Hochul framed AI as a tool to make government more responsive and efficient, stating 'I want a government that's not on your back but on your side.' The move comes even as New York has paused new hyperscale data centers (large cloud computing facilities) for up to a year due to concerns about utility costs and natural resources.
What to watch
Hochul indicated she plans to use AI to make 'dramatic changes' across state government and suggested that other levels of government should adopt similar practices. New York lawmakers are developing regulations for data centers while the state advances its own AI deployment.
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Governor Hochul's deployment of AI to audit state regulations reflects a pragmatic approach to modernizing government operations. The task of reviewing every law in a state is genuinely large-scale and labor-intensive; the body's comparison—five years of staff time compressed to a couple of months—illustrates the efficiency gain AI can deliver on purely mechanical review work. The examples Hochul cited (a hunting fee and a midnight work permit) are clearly vestigial, suggesting real outdated legislation exists in the state code.
This initiative sits alongside a seeming contradiction: Hochul recently signed a moratorium on new hyperscale data centers, citing concerns about utility costs and natural resources. However, the body does not frame her AI deployment as incompatible with that moratorium. Rather, she appears to distinguish between restricting large new data center infrastructure and using AI as a tool within government itself. Her comment—"I want a government that's not on your back but on your side"—positions AI as a means to reduce friction between residents and the state apparatus, a framing that may resonate beyond the immediate regulatory cleanup.
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