Artificial Intelligence has come to Albany.

A Queens assemblyman asked A.I. to produce ideas for housing legislation, and Auto-GPT did just that.

Clyde Vanel, who chairs the Assembly Subcommittee on Internet and New Technology and has been an enthusiastic and early adopter of technology, spoke with Capital Tonight about the first A.I.-written bill in New York state, and the implications of A.I. on public policy in general.

“We have to figure out and make sure that New Yorkers are prepared for tomorrow,” Vanel said.

As a thought exercise, Vanel asked Auto-GPT to find a gap in the state’s housing laws. The result was A.6896, which would require landlords to provide tenants with a copies of their lease agreement, twice a year, upon request.

The bill won’t set the world on fire, but Vanel explained that it proves A.I. could be another tool in lawmakers’ toolbelts.

“It can’t just go and think on its own or do stuff on its own, so I needed to put in goals and help it with its tasks,” Vanel explained. “But I asked A.I. if it could find a gap in the law, and I was surprised that at this point that it could.”

Housing advocates have pushed back on Vanel’s bill saying that he didn’t speak with them beforehand.

Tasks that A.I. could perform for lawmakers include relatively mundane work like comparing old and new versions of bills, scouring bills for unintentional “scrivener errors” and helping lawmakers understand how adding lines of bill text could influence the entire bill.

The public radio show Marketplace produced a segment on this issue. The show’s expert guest mentioned the software “LegisPro,” which can amend, draft and track bills through state legislatures.

However, there are limits to what A.I. can do. For example, the technology is unable to effectively predict consequences down the road.

“It’s a Dr. Spock,” said Vanel. “It doesn’t think like a human. It can analyze well, it can organize well, but it doesn’t predict. It’s still very linear.”