Amid AI angst, New York moves forward with implementing landmark AI legislation

Por Madison Fernandez — POLITICO – TOP Stories

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is looking to create a stark contrast with the federal government when it comes to how aggressively the state is policing artificial intelligence.

On Monday, the Democrat will announce next steps for implementing the RAISE Act, New York’s landmark AI safety legislation that goes into effect in January, as well as the first major hire for the office overseeing the law, according to details first shared with POLITICO.

The moves come amid heightened angst about the potentially dire consequences of the rapidly evolving technology. While some in Washington are eager to implement restrictions to slow down AI and bolster protections, President Donald Trump has tried to shut down those efforts, calling the AI dooming a “HOAX.” Over the weekend, the president suggested he envisions some role for the federal government in monitoring the technology for potential dangers, but the details of what he’s proposing were unclear.

Last week, Hochul vowed she will find “additional actions that we can take at the state level to lead the way in the absence of leadership from Washington,” though she did not specify what that might look like. Hochul has pointed to efforts her administration has taken to address AI long before the conversation hit a fever pitch in recent weeks, including signing the RAISE Act in December and implementing a one-year data center moratorium over the summer.

“Donald Trump and Washington Republicans may be standing still as AI grows more unpredictable, but New York will not,” Hochul said in a statement. “When companies are building some of the most powerful technology in the world, people deserve to know what they’re doing to keep it safe, and those companies should be held accountable when things go wrong.”

Starting in November, frontier AI developers will begin registering through a state portal to prepare for compliance with the RAISE Act, with a Jan. 1 deadline.

Additionally, Marc Gilman will serve as deputy director for the RAISE Act. He’s the first hire for the state’s new Office of Digital Innovation, Governance, Integrity and Trust, also known as DIGIT.

This is Gilman’s first foray into government work. Previously, he served as general counsel and vice president of compliance at Theta Lake, an AI security and compliance company. He’s also an adjunct professor of law at Fordham University.

Department of Financial Services acting Superintendent Kaitlin Asrow, whose department DIGIT is established within, pointed to Gilman’s “hands-on work with technology companies” and “deep legal experience in the AI space” as reasons he stood out for the role.

The Hochul administration said it will soon announce additional full-time staff, but did not say how large it expects the office to be. The $10.4 million allocated in Hochul’s budget for RAISE implementation covers the IT and systems builds, as well as initial hires, according to Asrow.

The RAISE Act — shorthand for Responsible AI Safety and Education Act — requires large frontier AI developers operating in New York to create publicly available safety frameworks outlining how they are mitigating risk. They will also be required to submit reports of critical safety incidents that could lead to catastrophic risks, defined as death or serious injury to 50 or more people or at least $1 billion dollars in damages, to the state within 72 hours, as well as quarterly assessments of catastrophic risks. The state attorney general’s office will lead on enforcement of the law.

Developers will be required to pay an assessment for DIGIT’s work in supervising them, similar to how the Department of Financial Services charges banks operating in New York a fee.

In a statement, Gilman said he’s aiming to “create more transparency in this industry and support responsible AI development.”

But even before the RAISE Act is implemented, some are already urging DIGIT to do more to get to that goal.

“That office is empowered to propose additional regulations and/or potentially laws to help improve the frontier of AI safety,” Democratic state Sen. Andrew Gounardes, one of the sponsors of the RAISE Act, said in an interview last week. “I really hope and expect that that office takes that charge seriously and does become an office that has the expertise necessary to provide guidance on what future regulations can and should look like.”

Gounardes, along with state Assemblymember Alex Bores, spearheaded the RAISE Act, which Hochul later negotiated to make it more palatable to the tech industry and more closely aligned to California’s AI legislation.

Bores, who is slated to appear with Hochul on Monday as she rolls out the RAISE Act implementation updates, also said he would like to see DIGIT ask for more data from the tech companies. In addition, he wants to see universal monitoring of all AI that’s deployed, third-party auditors for the companies with employee-level access, a prohibition on developers releasing models that fail their own safety tests and expanded whistleblower protections. Some of those provisions were included in an earlier iteration of the RAISE Act.

“I have always said that we need action at the federal level for AI, but so far the federal government has been completely incapable of doing it and states have been the only level of government that has actually regulated AI,” Bores said. He added that even though he thinks the RAISE Act needs to “go a lot further,” he’s “very pleased to hear the governor talking about the role of states and the role of New York in continuing to push forward AI safety.”

When asked about plans for DIGIT beyond implementing the RAISE Act, Asrow said it is a “fast-moving space” and the office will “work with other state partners, with the governor’s office, to understand where we might need to add authorities or look at AI or beyond AI to keep New York safe.”

Other governors have taken action in recent days to implement AI protections at the state level, including Govs. Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.) and Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.). Gubernatorial candidates are also leaning into the issue in the closing stretch of their campaigns.

Asrow said the Hochul administration has been coordinating with California, Illinois and Massachusetts regarding AI regulations.

“We are all learning in this moment,” she said. “I go back to really the power of the state system in this moment, where we really need safety frameworks. … I’m just grateful to have those other states to kind of push us and to push off of to keep getting better.”

Marie J. French contributed to this report.

Fonte: POLITICO – TOP Stories