A Brazilian city council signed an ordinance without knowing that it was secretly authored by ChatGPT.
Porto Alegre city councilman Ramiro Rosário disclosed on X (formerly Twitter) that he used the AI tool to entirely create the proposal to test ChatGPT's capabilities.
According to Rosário, he asked ChatGPT to create a legislative bill to prohibit the city from charging taxpayers for new water meters if it was stolen. The whole proposal was made in 15 seconds.
A primeira lei brasileira feita exclusivamente por inteligência artificial está vigente em Porto Alegre!
— Ramiro Rosário 30.000 (@curtaramiro) November 29, 2023
Ela não tem nada de ideológica. Ao contrário, é bem comum. Ela impede a cobrança pela prefeitura de hidrômetros furtados. Aliás, passaria despercebida se eu não contasse.…
Ignorant to Rosário's experiment, his fellow lawmakers passed the legislation, and has been enacted since Nov. 23, six days before the councilman revealed his actions.
The counselor reasoned that he did not disclose that an AI wrote the proposal much earlier to ensure "the process progressed without any external interference."
Rosário feared that other lawmakers' prejudice against AI would prevent the bill from being voted on.
The politician said the experiment was done to raise "the debate surrounding the beginning of a great technological revolution."
Porto Alegre is the second largest city in Brazil with 1.3 million population and one of the highest GDP contributors per capita to the country's economy.
Cases of ChatGPT Being Used by Lawmakers
Rosário is not the first lawmaker, nor will be the last, to ever try to apply AI tools in policy deliberations in the local government.
Massachusetts Democratic Senator Barry Finegold also hired the help of ChatGPT to write a bill to regulate artificial intelligence models.
While in favor of using AI tools in the lawmaking process, Finegold is critical that everyone knows that AI was used in the process. Finegold's bill is yet to be voted on.
A similar case happened when a Costa Rican legislator used ChatGPT to draft a proposal to govern AI systems within the country.
OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, warned lawmakers to be "critical" in regulating AI because of the "serious risks" it could create.
US Stance on Using ChatGPT in Lawmaking
US President Joe Biden already expressed doubts about the innovations in AI, especially the risks it poses to society, the economy, and national security.
A blueprint to regulate AI across the country has already been drafted. The bill remains under deliberations.
