Former DMV general counsel tells architects board to regulate licensees, not tools, as AI arrives in practice

Brian Souble, retired chief deputy director and general counsel at the California Department of Motor Vehicles, briefed the California Architects Board on Nov. 6, 2025, about how DMV approached regulation of autonomous‑vehicle technologies and what lessons apply to emerging artificial‑intelligence tools in the design professions.

Souble described DMV’s regulatory choice to require certification and permitting of technologies seeking to operate on public streets rather than prescribing specific technical solutions. He urged broad stakeholder engagement — including law enforcement, Caltrans, public utilities and technical experts such as university research centers — to inform standards and to avoid attempting to write technical specifications into regulations that are quickly outpaced by innovation. “You don’t know what you don’t know,” Souble said, urging the board to rely on outside technical expertise early in the rule‑making process.

Souble counseled the board to consider three consistent principles: (1) regulate professional actors (license holders) and the services they provide, rather than trying to regulate a particular tool or algorithm; (2) require data‑privacy safeguards so that information collected or processed by AI‑enabled tools cannot be monetized or used to profit at consumers’ expense; and (3) maintain regulatory flexibility so rules can evolve as edge cases reveal unanticipated harms. He offered the DMV experience — including the need to coordinate with sister agencies and the importance of enforcement levers tied to permits — as a model for how a profession‑oriented regulator can maintain public safety while allowing innovation.

Board members discussed several practical points that will guide future work: whether firms should be required to disclose AI use to clients, how to protect intellectual property (blueprints, client data) when AI tools store or process project information in the cloud, and how to distinguish licensed professional services from unlicensed products produced with AI. John Ruszynski of LATC and other public commenters echoed concerns about unlicensed actors using AI to produce construction documents and recommended that the board consider regulatory measures that preserve consumer protection while enabling practitioners to adopt new tools.

Why it matters: AI tools are increasingly available to practitioners and unlicensed actors alike. The board must balance protecting the public and client confidentiality while enabling licensees to adopt productive technologies; DMV’s certification/permit approach and emphasis on interagency coordination provide a practical framework for the board’s next steps.