TOPEKA, Kansas — In a February committee meeting, Republican Rep. Sean Willcott of Holton told fellow lawmakers he had used artificial intelligence to help write some of his remarks on the meeting’s topic: artificial intelligence.
“I use AI on a regular basis,” Willcott said. “I used AI to help write some of these components.”
Willcott is far from the only lawmaker who has used AI chatbots for Statehouse work. With technology improving, and legislative sessions becoming increasingly fast-paced, more and more Kansas legislators are using chatbots to keep up.
THE KANSAS News Service interviewed several lawmakers on both sides of the aisle about their use of tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Microsoft Copilot in the legislative process.
Some said they had used chatbots to summarize a bill ahead of a hearing or vote. Others said the tools helped provide quick background information on issues they weren’t familiar with.
Yet Kansas lawmakers are still without a clear set of guidelines on how — or if — they should use AI chatbots in their day-to-day activities. There are no rules against lawmakers employing bots to answer constituent emails or write press releases.
Even eager adopters like Willcott say it’s dangerous to lean too much on AI.
“I think it’s a tool that can be used very effectively to become more efficient. The concern I have is people’s understanding of its limits,” Willcott said in a recent interview.
“Just because something sounds really, really intelligent and gives you an answer, doesn’t necessarily make it a correct answer,” he said.
How is AI being used?
Republican Rep. Nick Hoheisel of Wichita said he began tinkering with the technology for legislative use when ChatGPT started gaining popularity in 2023.
“I can put some language in there from a bill,” he said, “and see what other states have this language on the books.”
Hoheisel has also supported several proposals regulating AI in Kansas, such as a law passed last year that makes it a crime to create, possess or distribute child sexual abuse materials made by AI.
This session, Hoheisel introduced a bill that would create a task force to study AI and give recommendations to the state Legislature. But he said the bill will not advance this session, needing more time to decide who sits on the task force.
Hoheisel said the tools have fed him hallucinations — pieces of false information that chatbots make up out of whole cloth — especially when dealing with case law. He said the responsibility lies on individual lawmakers to use the tools responsibly.
“I would strongly encourage folks to double and triple check their work,” he said.
