Peter Thiel-backed entrepreneur says DOGE should use AI to “transform” the US legal system.

The solution? A comprehensive overhaul of the U.S. legal system leveraging the unprecedented capabilities of artificial intelligence. Today, with the creation of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), America has the chance to “transform” its codebase.

Refactoring is a well-known term in software development. It refers to the process of restructuring existing computer code to make it cleaner, more efficient, and easier to understand – all without changing its essential functions. Applying this concept to the American legal framework would revolutionize governance. AI can identify “dead code” by analyzing billions of words from lawsuits, court filings, and administrative decisions to determine which laws and regulations are never cited or applied in practice.

This approach is not about politics, but about data. In contrast to ideologically charged regulatory revisions, AI is apolitical because it works through calculations. If a law has not been cited in decades or has no relevance to modern governance, it may be marked as obsolete, similar to unused features in a software library.

The explosion of legal data, coupled with advances in natural language processing (NLP) and large language models, is making this approach viable for the first time. Court transcripts, appellate opinions, and administrative decisions generate billions of words annually. AI can now cross-reference this information to identify legal relics of a bygone era.

Imagine the impact. The average small business spends over 80 hours annually on federal compliance. Citizens and businesses alike struggle with overlapping, outdated laws. Streamlining the laws would reduce regulatory burden and increase clarity.

Critics might argue that such a proposal throws the proverbial baby out with the bathwater. What if a law is inactive but still relevant? AI cannot operate in a vacuum; It must work with legal scholars, legislators and practitioners who understand the context. Refactoring is not deletion – it is an iterative process. Flagged provisions would be subject to review to ensure that essential laws remain intact.

Others may have concerns about trusting this process to machines. But people have long been overwhelmed by the magnitude of the U.S. code. Every government promises to cut bureaucracy; Only a few deliver results. The task is simply too big. AI offers a path forward, not as a policy maker, but as a tool to address complexity on a scale that exceeds human capabilities.

The private sector is already there. Companies routinely use AI to manage extensive corporate policies and compliance requirements. Software developers use refactoring tools to keep the code base lean. If these principles work for Fortune 500 companies, why not apply them to the U.S. government?

America’s legal infrastructure is critical to its economic and social stability. But like any aging system, it needs maintenance. Revising the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations is not just an exercise in efficiency – it is a moral imperative to ensure that the law remains accessible, functional, and relevant in the 21st century. The question is not whether we can afford to modernize, but whether we can afford not to.

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