'Dangerous precedent': Brazilian politician used AI to write new law, report says – KGAN TV
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by JACKSON WALKER | The National Desk
PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil (TND) — City leaders in Porto Alegre, Brazil are working to implement artificial intelligence in the lawmaking process, something that could potentially remove the need for politicians altogether, the Wall Street Journal reports.
City Councilman Ramiro Rosário, 37, in November passed the country’s first ever piece of legislation written with ChatGPT, a generative AI tool that can create text based on a prompt. The law was a measure to prevent water companies from charging residents to replace a stolen water meter.
While writing a measure would normally take a team of six several days, the chatbot wrote a constitutional bill proposal in 15 seconds. Included in the bill was a clause Rosário had not initially thought to include that exempted owners from paying their water bill if the meter was not replaced in 30 days.
The bill went on to be anonymously approved by the City Council, which later used ChatGPT to generate a press release on the measure. Rosário said he kept the chatbot’s involvement in the process a secret as “they would never have signed it if they’d known.”
The councilman went on to implement ChatGPT in other areas of his life, using it to settle arguments and find dinner recipes. He speculated the tool could soon replace his office’s public relations assistants.
Once it was revealed Rosário consulted ChatGPT for the bill, the community shared mixed reactions.
“It’s a dangerous precedent! It’s just not something you do! He should have talked to the other councilors first,” João Bosco Vaz, a counselor for the Democratic Labor Party said in an appeal for the law to be revoked.
“I’d choose artificial intelligence over the intelligence of politicians any day,” 21-year-old student Adriano Soares said.
AI tools such as ChatGPT have been mired in controversy since their rise to prominence in 2022. Some experts debate the tools can present an academic integrity threat when used by students. Pulitzer prize winners this month joined a lawsuit against ChatGPT creator OpenAI, alleging the technology is being used to plagiarize their intellectual property.
