The US Department of Transportation is employing Google Gemini AI to draft federal safety regulations, sparking worries among staffers about potential errors leading to injuries or deaths. ProPublica revealed that the initiative, pushed by top officials, aims to speed up the rulemaking process despite AI's known issues with hallucinations. President Trump is reportedly excited about the plan, positioning DOT as a leader in AI adoption for government.
The US Department of Transportation (DOT) has begun using Google Gemini to draft regulations affecting transportation safety, including rules for airplanes, cars, pipelines, and hazardous materials transport. According to a ProPublica investigation published on January 26, 2026, this marks the first federal agency to employ AI for such rulemaking, raising alarms due to AI's propensity for hallucinations—fabricating information that has already misled courts and led to fines for lawyers.
In a December meeting, DOT's top lawyer, Gregory Zerzan, emphasized speed over perfection. "We don’t need the perfect rule on XYZ," Zerzan told staffers. "We don’t even need a very good rule on XYZ. We want good enough." He noted that Gemini can produce drafts in under 30 minutes, compressing timelines from weeks or months to as little as 20-30 minutes, allowing DOT to "flood the zone" with rules. A presentation described much of regulatory preambles as mere "word salad," which AI could handle, but staffers expressed deep skepticism, calling the intricate work reliant on decades of expertise in statutes and case law.
One anonymous staffer deemed the approach "wildly irresponsible," fearing flawed rules could cause lawsuits, injuries, or deaths by failing to keep airplanes aloft, prevent pipeline explosions, or stop toxic freight trains from derailing. A demonstration showed Gemini omitting key text, requiring human fixes. DOT has already used the tool for an unpublished Federal Aviation Administration rule.
President Trump is "very excited" about the initiative, viewing DOT as the "point of the spear" for AI in government, though his executive orders promote AI adoption without specifying rule drafting. Former acting chief AI officer Mike Horton compared it to "having a high school intern that’s doing your rulemaking," warning that rushing could hurt people. Ohio State professor Bridget Dooling urged skepticism: "Just because these tools can produce a lot of words doesn’t mean that those words add up to a high-quality government decision."
DOT's workforce has shrunk by over 4,000 employees since Trump's second term began, including more than 100 attorneys, potentially straining oversight. Google promotes Gemini for government efficiency but declined comment on this use. The company celebrated DOT as the first cabinet-level agency to fully adopt Google Workspace with Gemini, urging others to follow.
