New York passes a bill to prevent AI-fueled disasters

New York state lawmakers passed a bill on Thursday that goals to forestall frontier AI fashions from OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic from contributing to catastrophe eventualities, together with the dying or harm of greater than 100 folks, or greater than $1 billion in damages.

The passage of the RAISE Act represents a win for the AI security motion, which has lost ground in recent years as Silicon Valley and the Trump administration have prioritized velocity and innovation. Security advocates together with Nobel laureate Geoffrey Hinton and AI analysis pioneer Yoshua Bengio have championed the RAISE Act. Ought to it turn out to be regulation, the invoice would set up America’s first set of legally mandated transparency requirements for frontier AI labs.

The RAISE Act has among the identical provisions and objectives as California’s controversial AI safety bill, SB 1047, which was in the end vetoed. Nevertheless, the co-sponsor of the invoice, New York state Senator Andrew Gounardes, informed TechCrunch in an interview that he intentionally designed the RAISE Act such that it doesn’t chill innovation amongst startups or tutorial researchers — a typical criticism of SB 1047.

“The window to place in place guardrails is quickly shrinking given how briskly this know-how is evolving,” mentioned Senator Gounardes. “The those that know [AI] the perfect say that these dangers are extremely possible […] That’s alarming.”

The RAISE Act is now headed for New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s desk, the place she may both signal the invoice into regulation, ship it again for amendments, or veto it altogether.

If signed into regulation, New York’s AI security invoice would require the world’s largest AI labs to publish thorough security and safety stories on their frontier AI fashions. The invoice additionally requires AI labs to report security incidents, equivalent to regarding AI mannequin conduct or unhealthy actors stealing an AI mannequin, ought to they occur. If tech corporations fail to dwell as much as these requirements, the RAISE Act empowers New York’s lawyer normal to convey civil penalties of as much as $30 million.

The RAISE Act goals to narrowly regulate the world’s largest corporations — whether or not they’re primarily based in California (like OpenAI and Google) or China (like DeepSeek and Alibaba). The invoice’s transparency necessities apply to corporations whose AI fashions have been skilled utilizing greater than $100 million in computing assets (seemingly, greater than any AI mannequin obtainable right now), and are being made obtainable to New York residents.

Whereas just like SB 1047 in some methods, the RAISE Act was designed to deal with criticisms of earlier AI security payments, in keeping with Nathan Calvin, the vice chairman of State Affairs and normal counsel at Encode, who labored on this invoice and SB 1047. Notably, the RAISE Act doesn’t require AI mannequin builders to incorporate a “kill swap” on their fashions, nor does it maintain corporations that post-train frontier AI fashions accountable for crucial harms.

Nonetheless, Silicon Valley has pushed again considerably on New York’s AI security invoice, New York state Assemblymember and co-sponsor of the RAISE Act Alex Bores informed TechCrunch. Bores known as the business resistance unsurprising, however claimed that the RAISE Act wouldn’t restrict innovation of tech corporations in any manner.

“The NY RAISE Act is yet one more silly, silly state stage AI invoice that may solely damage the US at a time when our adversaries are racing forward,” mentioned Andreessen Horowitz normal associate Anjney Midha in a Friday post on X. Andreessen Horowitz and startup incubator Y Combinator have been among the fiercest opponents to SB 1047.

Anthropic, the safety-focused AI lab that called for federal transparency standards for AI companies earlier this month, has not reached an official stance on the invoice, co-founder Jack Clark mentioned in a Friday post on X. Nevertheless, Clark expressed some grievances over how broad the RAISE Act is, noting that it may current a threat to “smaller corporations.”

When requested about Anthropic’s criticism, state Senator Gounardes informed TechCrunch he thought it “misses the mark,” noting that he designed the invoice to not apply to small corporations.

OpenAI, Google, and Meta didn’t reply to TechCrunch’s request for remark.

One other widespread criticism of the RAISE Act is that AI mannequin builders merely wouldn’t supply their most superior AI fashions within the state of New York. That was an analogous criticism introduced towards SB 1047, and it’s largely what’s performed out in Europe due to the continent’s robust laws on know-how.

Assemblymember Bores informed TechCrunch that the regulatory burden of the RAISE Act is comparatively gentle, and due to this fact, shouldn’t require tech corporations to cease working their merchandise in New York. Given the truth that New York has the third largest GDP within the U.S., pulling out of the state is just not one thing most corporations would take frivolously.

“I don’t wish to underestimate the political pettiness that may occur, however I’m very assured that there isn’t a financial purpose for [AI companies] to not make their fashions obtainable in New York,” mentioned Assemblymember Bores.