HUD Withholds Over 100 Documents on AI Tools Used by DOGE Team, Citing Deliberative Privilege

The Department of Housing and Urban Development denied Freedom of Information Act requests for records on artificial intelligence tools used to shape policy decisions by members of the Department of Government Efficiency team at the agency. Wired reported that more than 100 documents were withheld. HUD cited a nonexistent AI privilege and a presidential communications privilege in its responses.

Democracy Forward, a nonprofit legal organization, submitted the underlying FOIA request that produced the denial records. Christopher Sweet joined the DOGE team at HUD while a third-year student at the University of Chicago. His primary focus was using artificial intelligence to identify agency rules for potential rescission or contract cancellations.

HUD staffers were looped in to provide feedback on regulations flagged by the AI. Scott Langmack joined the DOGE team at HUD from property technology startup Kukun. A document titled “RegulatoryAnalysisPrompt.pdf” belonging to Langmack indicates the team examined prompts for conducting regulatory analysis.

Several other withheld documents were labeled as forms of regulatory analysis for different HUD programs. Sweet graduated from the University of Chicago in June with a degree in economics. Langmack is now the executive director of deregulation AI at the Office of Management and Budget under the Executive Office of the President.

HUD’s FOIA office denied certain documents by citing “draft of AI prompt” and “deliberative AI input” as reasons. No U.S. laws currently require the government to disclose AI use in the creation of rules, policies, or regulations.