by James A. Bacon

Governor Glenn Youngkin has issued an executive order establishing the nation’s first AI-powered review of state regulations.

The order will build on previous work of the Office of Regulatory Management (ORM) conducted by humans, which Youngkin claims streamlined 26.8% of state regulatory requirements, eliminated 47.9% of the words in guidance documents, and saved Virginians $1.2 billion a year.

“Given our tremendous success in streamlining the regulatory code thus far,” wrote Youngkin in his executive order, “it is paramount to maintain momentum and continue search for reductions. AI presents an opportunity to supercharge these efforts to further reduce excessively burdensome regulatory requirements in the Commonwealth.”

“The ‘Virginia model’ for regulatory modernization has become the gold standard across the U.S., with other states and federal agencies looking to replicate our reforms,” Reeve Bull, ORM director, told The Virginia Mercury. 

The natural instinct of some will be to pooh-pooh the $1.2 billion in estimated savings. Maybe the claimed cost savings are realistic, maybe they’re not. What cannot be doubted is that Youngkin’s regulatory-reform efforts are reducing the cost of compliance. I, for one, applaud the initiative, and I’m glad to see that Youngkin has found a way to use AI to institutionalize the process of regulatory review in a cost-effective manner.

The executive order instructs executive branch agencies to review all their regulations every four years to determine their continued need and whether they can be eliminated, streamlined or clarified through more concise language. The review will ascertain whether regulations are redundant or conflict with other provisions of state or federal law.

Also, the executive order calls for comparing Virginia regulations to those of other states, specifically North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, South Carolina, and Georgia. (Notably, peer states do not include D.C., Maryland, or states to the north.)

State-by-state comparisons are valuable because other states might find ways to accomplish similar aims more economically or with greater verbal parsimony. Dredging through millions of pages of regulations from multiple states would be impractically time consuming for humans. AI can identify opportunities that humans would miss.

However, the executive order makes it clear that humans will remain in the loop. AI will identify opportunities. Humans will make final decisions.

I think this is a marvelous idea. But as we’ve learned from hard experience, every technology has a downside or dark side. My nightmare scenario: AI will make it faster and easier for Democrats to write new regulations!