LLMs and Government Accountability

As tokens get cheaper, it’s going to become easier and easier to scour government paperwork at scale. This used to be the domain of journalists - the only people with the time and resources to read through thousands of pages of public records. Now anyone with access to a decent LLM can do it.

One of the major defenses for government institutions has always been sheer volume. Bury things in paperwork so large that no one could realistically get through it all. But that defense is eroding fast.

Which means the next move is predictable: less transparency, not more. Fewer documents released, more redactions, slower responses to access requests. If you can’t hide behind volume anymore, you hide behind access.

That’s the scary part. Tightening the feedback loop between the public and government feels more important than ever.