DOGE Used AI for Housing Policy. The Government Won't Say How

The Department of Housing and Urban Development withheld more than 100 documents requested by the nonprofit legal organization Democracy Forward regarding the use of artificial intelligence by the Department of Government Efficiency team at HUD, according to documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. HUD cited exemptions including a nonexistent AI privilege and presidential communications privilege to deny the request. Documents withheld under Exemption 5 for deliberative process privilege included files labeled "GPT defined Econ Analysis approach 11 10 25.docx" and "RegulatoryAnalysisPrompt.pdf" belonging to Scott Langmack, who is now executive director of deregulation AI at the Office of Management and Budget. Other documents were exempted as "deliberative AI input" or "deliberation of AI prompt." John Davisson, deputy director of enforcement at the Electronic Privacy Information Center, said there is no AI exemption under FOIA and that deliberation between a person and an AI chatbot should not qualify. Dan McGrath, senior oversight counsel at Democracy Forward, said withholding AI input into the policy process raises serious questions. Tori Noble, a staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said the lack of transparency is worrisome because AI tools can hallucinate or show bias. Mark Fagan, a lecturer at the Harvard Kennedy School, said it is good protocol to indicate when AI is used to assess policy. Christopher Sweet and Langmack, HUD, OMB, and the White House did not respond to requests for comment.