New York Governor Kathy Hochul has revealed that her administration is using artificial intelligence to review every rule, regulation and policy on the state's books, aiming to identify and eliminate outdated laws. Speaking on Bloomberg's Odd Lots podcast, she said the exercise would normally have taken years of staff effort but was completed by her team in a matter of months thanks to AI. The disclosure is notable given that Hochul recently signed a moratorium on new AI data centres in the state, underlining that her scepticism about the infrastructure's costs doesn't extend to the technology's practical uses in government.

Among the antiquated rules flagged were a $25 fee for taking a dog hunting and a requirement for pregnant people to hold a permit to work after midnight. Hochul said the review, which would have taken roughly five years using conventional staff methods, was instead completed in a couple of months, allowing agencies to begin scrapping such regulations. The comments come days after New York became the first US state to pause approvals of new hyperscale data centres for up to a year, with lawmakers now working on rules to shield residents from rising utility costs and resource strain linked to such facilities. Hochul said she wants "a government that's not on your back but on your side" and believes every level of government should adopt AI.