At just 21 years old, Christopher Sweet has found himself at the center of a controversial AI-powered deregulation project inside the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)—despite having no government background and not yet completing his undergraduate degree.
Sweet, a third-year economics and data science student at the University of Chicago, has been enlisted as a “special assistant” to HUD through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a Musk-aligned task force that has quickly grown influential within the federal government. According to internal communications obtained by WIRED, Sweet is helping to reshape federal housing policy using artificial intelligence—raising concerns about transparency, qualifications, and the legality of the work underway.
A Student with Sweeping Authority
Sweet’s arrival at HUD was announced in an agency-wide email earlier this month by DOGE official Scott Langmack, who introduced him as a data-savvy analyst capable of handling advanced AI tools. Langmack praised Sweet’s technical abilities and multilingual skills, noting his Brazilian heritage and fluency in Portuguese.
But it’s Sweet’s role—not his résumé—that is turning heads. Multiple sources within HUD say he is leading efforts to deploy an AI system that reviews the agency’s existing regulations, compares them with underlying laws, and identifies areas where rules could be loosened, rewritten, or eliminated altogether.
Inside the AI Review Machine
HUD insiders describe a growing reliance on Sweet’s AI-driven analyses. He has reportedly created a massive spreadsheet—close to 1,000 rows long—flagging regulatory language that the AI model suggests may overstep legal bounds. For each item, the AI provides suggested edits or alternatives. Staffers in the Office of Public and Indian Housing (PIH) have been instructed to review the AI’s proposals and justify any disagreements in writing.
“It’s wild that AI is suggesting regulatory rewrites,” one HUD employee admitted. “But there’s a human check involved, so it’s not completely out of control.”
The process, however, bypasses the traditional rulemaking framework governed by the Administrative Procedure Act, which requires public comment and multi-agency oversight. Critics worry the AI review is moving too fast—and without enough accountability.
A Broader Government Experiment
Sources say the AI model Sweet is helping refine may soon be used across multiple federal agencies. DOGE officials have discussed scaling it to scan the entire Code of Federal Regulations, with Sweet and DOGE attorney Jacob Altik involved in shaping the tool’s development.
The model reportedly estimates how much text can be deleted from individual rules and assigns a “noncompliance” score, though the formula behind those metrics remains unclear.
Before HUD: GitHub Projects and Student Ventures
While Sweet’s sudden influence may seem surprising, clues to his ambitions were visible online. A GitHub profile linked to him shows a project launched before his HUD appointment that maps out regulatory burdens across agencies. The app was last updated in March 2025—just weeks before his reported start at HUD.
Beyond coding, Sweet also dabbled in finance. A short biography on the site of East Edge Securities, a student-run investment firm he co-founded, lists past work with private equity firms in London and San Francisco. He also holds a board seat at Paragon Global Investments, a student hedge fund, and is expected to join Nexus Point Capital in Hong Kong this summer. Most of these firms declined to comment or did not respond.
Questions of Oversight and Intentions
Despite his growing role, Sweet has kept a low public profile. His only known social media activity is a dormant Substack account following market analysts and a few conservative commentators, including Elon Musk associate Marc Andreessen.
Meanwhile, political pushback is mounting. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) recently accused DOGE of infiltrating housing agencies, misusing funds, and accessing private tenant data—charges that underscore the tension surrounding Sweet’s presence and DOGE’s broader mission.
