Menin’s AI moment
CITY HAL 9000: Amid a mad dash to try to regulate artificial intelligence, City Council Speaker Julie Menin is looking to make her mark. The Manhattan lawmaker is planning to hold a hearing with all 51 members of the legislative body next week, and today confirmed the attendance of four major AI firms to discuss both the dangers the technology poses and a suite of Council bills that seek to…
New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin is set to hold a hearing with all 51 council members next week, focusing on artificial intelligence (AI) and the bills she plans to introduce to protect New Yorkers. The hearing will feature attendance from four major AI firms, including SpaceXAI, owned by Elon Musk, who were subpoenaed by Menin.
The upcoming AI debate is one of the defining issues in the political climate, as both the White House and Mayor Zohran Mamdani have taken opposing stances on AI regulation. Menin aims to push forward a package of bills, including a "kill switch" requirement and a new private right of action, which would make it easier to sue AI companies.
Google, Anthropic, OpenAI, and Meta are set to attend the hearing, with Google releasing a white paper advocating for a regulatory body to develop safety standards and audits for frontier AI models. However, there are questions surrounding how the proposed New York regulations would impact AI companies operating globally and the potential implications of the private right of action on existing tort laws.
Additionally, these bills will need to be harmonized with Governor Kathy Hochul's separate AI regulation framework.
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