Lawmaking isn't pretty, or easy. It shouldn't be.
Thousands of pieces of legislation are introduced in state capitols and Washington, D.C. each year. Some are dozens of pages, others can exceed the one-thousand page mark. Sometimes you need a legal degree just to understand what it all means.
But Mountain States Policy Center (MSPC) wants to make it much easier. That's why we're launching WONK - a free AI legislative companion that will read every bill, explain every bill, and answer your questions about the bill - in just seconds.
WONK is a public service of MSPC - and a first-of-its-kind system aimed at bringing transparency to the legislative process in Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and Washington.
"AI will change the way the world works, and we believe it can be used for the better," MSPC President Chris Cargill said. "WONK will quickly become an indispensable tool for those who care about the legislative process."
AI isn't perfect. Programmers believe it will take several weeks for the system to run with near total accuracy, but the more people engage with the system, the smarter WONK gets.
Mountain States Policy Center is 501(c)3 non profit and the region's top free market think tank, with an annual budget of $1.6 million.
Note: WONK is new and still learning. Please be patient as he learns the bills, the states and begins to populate the system over the next week or two.
MSPC's Chris Cargill explains how WONK works.