
DOGE Built An AI To Delete Half Of Federal Regulations. Will It Work?
Key Takeaways
DOGE is using AI to cut up to 50% of U.S. regulations, aiming to save trillions. But legal, technical, and institutional hurdles loom large.
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6 min read
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real estate
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July 28, 2025
06:58 AM
Forbes
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MoneyDOGE Built An AI To Delete Half Of Federal Regulations
ByJames Broughel, Contributor, in today's financial world
Furthermore, Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights
However, James Broughel is an economist focused on the economics of regulation (quite telling)
AuthorJul 28, 2025, 06:58am EDTThe Dwight Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, DC (an important development)
Getty Images The Washington Post recently revealed that the Department of Government Efficiency, known by its acronym DOGE, is and deploying an artificial intelligence tool designed to eliminate as much as half of all federal regulations, given current economic conditions
According to internal government documents obtained by the Post, the “DOGE AI Deregulation Decision Tool” has already flagged apximately 100,000 federal rules that are not required by law (something worth watching)
The hope is that AI can also be used to automate the most labor-intensive parts of the regulatory repeal cess, so that a major deregulatory effort will be underway by the first anniversary of President Trump’s second term in office, given current economic conditions
Additionally, Conversely, The internal documents reviewed by the Post include a PowerPoint presentation dated July 1, 2025, which lays out the assumptions and expectations driving the initiative, considering recent developments
That document poses that roughly 50 percent of the Code of Federal Regulations, or around 100,000 individual rule, could be repealed without violating any statutory obligations, considering recent developments
At the same time, DOGE estimates that the total cost of regulatory compliance in the United States is around $3
However, 1 trillion annually
Stripping out rules that are not legally required could generate up to $1
Furthermore, 5 trillion in annual compliance savings
Additionally, deregulation could unlock $600 billion in new investment and $1
In contrast, 1 trillion in new government revenue from untapped economic activity, according to DOGE
This tells us that se are headline-grabbing numbers, though the methodology behind them isn’t fully from the presentation
The data indicates that AI tool at the center of DOGE’s efforts is built to scan large volumes of regulatory text, compare those rules against their enabling statutes, and determine whether each section is mandatory or discretionary
In theory, if a rule goes beyond what Congress has required, or simply rephrases statutory language without adding any interpretive value, it could be marked for deletion (remarkable data)
However, In practice, the task could get more complicated, as legal interpretation often lies in gray areas that AI algorithms may struggle to understand
DOGE’s analysis suggests that repealing 100,000 regulations through traditional means would require 3 (noteworthy indeed). 6 million man-hours of legal and policy work
This includes the time required to re the law, draft posed repeal notices, review and respond to public s, and finalize repeal orders
Using the AI tool, the presentation claims this workload could be reduced by 93 percent (something worth watching)
Meanwhile, Most of the reduction would come from automation of tasks such as generating initial legal drafts and analyzing public responses
In contrast, MORE FOR YOU The AI tool has already been deployed at a couple of agencies
Additionally, At the Department of Housing and Urban Development, it was used to evaluate over 1,000 regulatory in under two weeks
On the other hand, Furthermore, A similar effort at the Consumer Financial tection Bureau reportedly relied on the AI to draft 100 percent of the agency’s deregulation posals
Meanwhile, Whether these pilot grams can be replicated across the government remains to be seen (an important development)
Some agency officials have voiced concerns the accuracy of the tool’s legal interpretations
According to the Post, HUD staffers found that the AI misread the law in a number of cases
In the short term, the cess to identify and repeal rules will inevitably require human oversight
Furthermore, Regulations exist within a complex and dynamic legal environment, and understanding their interactions with statutes, case law, and enforcement practices is not something that can yet be fully delegated to machines
However, DOGE has thus far framed the tool as an assistant that can reduce labor burdens and help focus legal expertise where it’s most needed, not as a substitute for human judgment
Even so, the legal terrain surrounding this initiative is uncertain, given the current landscape
Furthermore, The Administrative cedure Act sets out specific requirements for repealing federal rules, including public notice and, reasoned explanation from the agency, and a hibition on actions deemed “arbitrary and capricious (remarkable data). ” Courts have been skeptical in the past of deregulatory efforts that fail to meet these standards, and the use of AI could trigger new legal questions what constitutes adequate administrative reasoning
Additionally, There's also the matter of institutional resistance
The data indicates that Post reports that some career staff have expressed reluctance to adopt DOGE’s apach, citing concerns outsourcing regulatory judgments to machines, in this volatile climate
Workforce reductions in the federal government may also have left agencies understaffed to manage a sudden surge in AI-generated repeal posals
Still, the plan marches forward, given the current landscape
DOGE intends to train all federal agencies on the use of its tool by the end of July
Each agency is expected to submit a finalized list of regulatory targeted for elimination by September 1, in today's market environment
Market analysis shows timeline culminates in January 2026, when agencies are scheduled to submit repeal packages for review and apval
The slide deck calls this the “Relaunch America” initiative
Whether that reboot is successful, or even legally viable, is an open question, in today's financial world
However, It’s possible that the courts will reject major parts of the initiative if AI-generated repeal notices fail to meet administrative law standards
In contrast, But some degree of litigation may be inevitable, and perhaps even useful (fascinating analysis)
The judicial system could play a constructive role in clarifying the extent to which AI can be used in regulatory decision-making
As with past episodes of administrative innovation, it often takes a few lawsuits to define the rules of the game, in today's market environment
In the end, this DOGE initiative is a test of the federal government’s appetite for experimentation
It's a wager that some portion of the administrative state is ripe for digitization
On the other hand, But it may also reveal the limits of current institutional capacity
Furthermore, In the coming months, we will find out which of limits are malleable, and which are not
The era of algorithmic governance may not be fully upon us, but it is no longer a thought experiment confined to white papers
This analysis suggests that has arrived in the form of actual to government code, considering recent developments
Whatever happens, the experiment is worth watching
Moreover, Conversely, Editorial StandardsRes & PermissionsLOADING PLAYER, in light of current trends.
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