Media: AI-generated bills overwhelm US congressional lawyers

Artificial intelligence is creating a growing workload for lawyers responsible for drafting legislation in the US House of Representatives, as congressional offices increasingly turn to generative AI to produce bill language.

The House Office of Legislative Counsel (OLC), which helps lawmakers prepare legislation, is facing a growing number of AI-generated proposals that contain legal errors, incorrect references and unclear wording, according to current and former officials who spoke to POLITICO.

Rather than saving time, poorly drafted AI text can require lawyers to spend longer reviewing and rewriting bills than they would have needed to draft them themselves.

Experts say legislation is particularly difficult for AI systems because small differences in legal wording can have significant consequences. A bill may, for example, use the wrong legal term, incorrectly cite the US Code or unintentionally exclude certain groups from a federal programme.

Such mistakes could create confusion for government agencies and courts if they become part of legislation. They could also lead to legal challenges and force Congress to correct errors later.

The pressure comes as the OLC is already dealing with a heavy workload. During the last Congress, its 61 lawyers and 19 support staff prepared more than 30,000 bills — almost three times the number ultimately introduced.

The office received 5,623 requests for legislation during the first 60 days of the current Congress in early 2025, a 72% increase from two years earlier.

Some congressional staff say AI use is becoming increasingly common, although it remains relatively discreet. Lawmakers and advocacy groups are using tools such as ChatGPT and Claude to assist with drafting and reviewing legislation.

Officials stress that AI should support, rather than replace, professional legislative lawyers. The OLC is exploring ways to use artificial intelligence for tasks such as legal research while maintaining human oversight.

The office already uses specialised technology to help identify how proposed legislation would alter the US Code. Unlike general-purpose generative AI, the system is designed to flag uncertainty rather than invent an answer.

Experts warn that the central problem may intensify as AI makes it possible to produce legislative text at a much faster rate.

As one former OLC official put it, AI may help lawmakers process information, but it cannot replace the expertise and judgement required to draft effective laws.

By Aghakazim Guliyev