'I don't trust it, I don't like it': Lawmakers sound off on why they don't use AI

• Several lawmakers told BI that they still don't use AI chatbots like ChatGPT or Grok.
• Some cite the risk of "hallucination," while others worry about retaining their thinking skills.
• "I still like to compose original thoughts," one House Democrat told BI.

AI has become a big topic on Capitol Hill, and some lawmakers are finding ways to use it in their daily lives.

But while some are using Grok to come up with one-liners, asking ChatGPT to punch up speeches, or deploying AI to scrutinize their own records, plenty of their colleagues still haven't gotten into it.

"I haven't had the chance to really explore the tools," Democratic Rep. Gabe Vasquez of New Mexico told BI. "I'm a little behind the times in that sense."

There's no single reason why. Some remain skeptical about the technology's ability to provide reliable information. Others fear that if they use it, they'll erode their own faculties. At least one has publicly fought with an AI chatbot on X. And often, it simply comes down to a lack of interest.

For Sen. Tim Kaine, it's a combination of several of those things.

"I feel like I'm so comfortable with my ability to access information that I don't really need it," the Virginia Democrat said, explaining that he's never used AI chatbots "voluntarily."

He does, however, encounter artificial intelligence involuntarily: Recently, his email client began furnishing him with AI-generated summaries of his email.

"It's like, first, I didn't ask for it. Second, it's got a high error rate," Kaine said. "Third, to do an AI summary of emails I can read myself is a use of energy, somewhere, that I have to feel like is kind of an excess."

'I still like to compose original thoughts'

BI spoke to roughly a dozen lawmakers in June about their use, or lack thereof, of AI chatbots like Grok and ChatGPT. Polling has shown that a growing number of Americans are using AI in the workplace, with a recent Gallup poll finding that 40% of employees use it a few times per year and 27% use it frequently or daily.

Republican Rep. Greg Murphy of North Carolina, who remains a practicing urologist in additional to his congressional duties, says he's "dabbled" with AI, primarily for medical questions.

He says he doesn't use it for his official work, and he doesn't want his staff to do so either.

"I don't want people writing speeches for me, or doing letters to constituents with that," Murphy said, adding that if his constituents "wanted something from ChatGPT, they could have Googled it themselves."

Sen. Josh Hawley, a fellow Republican, takes an even harder line against AI — he doesn't use AI chatbots out of principle.

"I don't trust it, I don't like it, I don't want it being trained on any of the information I might give it," the Missouri senator, a frequent critic of Big Tech, told BI.

Some lawmakers' reservations are rooted in their hesitance to rely on technology for something they already do themselves.

"I've just never felt the need, and I like being creative," Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York told BI. "Writing is a use-it-or-lose-it skill, and I don't want to lose it."

"I still like to compose original thoughts, and not rely on technology to help state what I feel," Democratic Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts said.

Large language models are also known to confidently deliver faulty information — known as "hallucination." For Sen. Elizabeth Warren, that's enough to discourage her from using it.

"I might as well go out on the street and ask a random person a question and see what words they come up with," the Massachusetts Democrat told BI. "Maybe they're right, but then again, maybe they're not, and the only way to know that is to do the research yourself."