The US Department of Transportation apparently thinks it's a good idea to use artificial intelligence to draft rules impacting the safety of airplanes, cars, and pipelines, a ProPublica investigation revealed Monday.
It could be a problem if DOT becomes the first agency to use AI to draft rules, ProPublica pointed out, since AI is known to confidently get things wrong and hallucinate fabricated information. Staffers fear that any failure to catch AI errors could result in flawed laws, leading to lawsuits, injuries, or even deaths in the transportation system.
But the DOT's top lawyer, Gregory Zerzan, isn't worried about that, December meeting notes revealed, because the point isn't for AI to be perfect. It's for AI to help speed up the rulemaking process, so that rules that take weeks or months to draft can instead be written within 30 days. According to Zerzan, DOT's preferred tool, Google Gemini, can draft rules in under 30 minutes.
Stevens Pass ski resort has been unable to open due to poor weather and road conditions. (GeekWire File Photo / Kurt Schlosser)
Anxious skiers and snowboarders refreshing social media and other websites for updates on Washington’s Stevens Pass have a new tool to track the resort’s delayed opening: a streamlined status page built by a snowboarding software engineer.
Matheus Gonçalves, a 25-year tech veteran, started snowboarding about five years ago. He’s been a pass holder at Stevens since he learned to ride, and like many winter sports enthusiasts, he’s been watching and waiting as the region recovers from extreme rainfall and flooding.
Posting on Reddit as @toadgeek, Gonçalves said he created his simple website as a one-stop update spot for Stevens and U.S. Highway 2 because he “got tired of playing browser tab whack a mole” while seeking information.
“For those of us who rely on snow sports as a physical activity, winter mental health and happiness outlet, the uncertainty and closures have been frustrating,” Gonçalves told GeekWire via email.
He acknowledged that anyone feeling anxious or impatient about getting to the mountain should remember all that has happened this month.
“The region has dealt with serious weather impacts, including flooding, landslides, and road washouts,” Gonçalves said. “WSDOT crews have been working hard to keep people safe and restore access. They are the highest priority now.”
The status for Stevens Pass ski resort on Wednesday afternoon. (stevenspass.info screen grab)
While the weather dealt a blow to openings at other Washington resorts, the prospects for the season at Stevens have looked especially dire because of flood damage on Highway 2.
In an Instagram post on Wednesday, Stevens, which is owned by Vail Resorts, said the mountain has “received a good amount of snow” and is “working through intermittent power outages.” The resort added that it’s “encouraged by the recent updates from WSDOT.”
The delay has sparked friction over Vail’s refund policies. In another Instagram post, the resort noted that passes remain non-refundable because they are valid all season. “Our Epic Coverage refund policy does not extend to road or traffic challenges,” the resort stated.
Gonçalves said it’s important to remember that beyond the road repairs and broader weather impacts, “opening dates can swing a lot year to year, and this kind of timing is not unheard of.”
Seattle tech worker and snowboarder Matheus Gonçalves took up the sport about five years ago. Photo courtesy of Matheus Gonçalves)
Gonçalves built his website to provide a data-driven answer without predictions. It pulls road status from WSDOT public APIs, pulls resort operations from Stevens Pass official pages, and loosely uses official social accounts only as secondary confirmation.
He’s been iterating after hours, keeping it intentionally simple, with a cache that refreshes every 20 minutes. He plans to add small context improvements like separate eastbound and westbound road status, clearer timestamps, and maybe some direct links back to each official source. He also might add a minimal weather station snapshot and links out to NOAA forecasts. He plans to keep the site up after everything opens.
Gonçalves isn’t alone in coding for the community. Another snowboarder on Reddit, OtoNoOto, highlighted a site called Stevens Pass Companion that shares similar information and plans to expand to data on all Washington resorts.
For Gonçalves, who grew up surfing and skateboarding in Brazil before moving to the U.S. more than a decade ago, the project is about maximizing a fleeting season.
“Snow is unbeatable,” he said. “I’m not getting any younger, so I’m going to make the best of every season I can for as long as my body allows.”
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