‘We told you so’: Key New York lawmaker calls for more AI rules

AI BILLS BILLS BILLS: One of the architects of New York’s pioneering legislation to put guardrails around artificial intelligence says ominous warnings from industry leaders prove states need to act aggressively.

“I’m very rarely one to say, ‘I told you so’ or ‘We told you so,’ But this is exactly … the things we had warned about,” said Democratic state Sen. Andrew Gounardes, who sponsored the RAISE Act.

The law is slated to take effect in January, requires the largest AI companies to report safety incidents to the state and establishes penalties for violations. New York lawmakers passed that bill last year, despite pushback from industry lobbyists. But now leading AI executives are ramping up warnings about the risks of their technology.

“These are the exact same concerns that we were flagging: biological weapons, nuclear weapons, catastrophic harms,” Gounardes said in an interview with Playbook. “Not only were we right, but some of the very same people that were telling us that we were wrong are now the ones saying that we need to be doing these things.”

President Donald Trump has dismissed AI safety concerns as a “HOAX” and Congress appears unlikely to act on the issue anytime soon.

So lawmakers in New York and other states are weighing how they can respond. California Gov. Gavin Newsom has floated the idea of a special session devoted to the issue, but New York’s Legislature isn’t slated to return to Albany until January.

Gounardes said he’s had an increasing amount of engagement with AI safety advocates, industry experts and others in recent weeks.

He’s focused on two bills he’s sponsoring — one requiring third-party safety audits, similar to a measure enacted in Illinois, and another strengthening safety reporting requirements.

“They're good bills, they're important bills, they should pass as is. But I think we can go further,” Gounardes said.

There's a clear appetite among other key policymakers to pass more measures to bolster protections for New Yorkers.

Gov. Kathy Hochul told reporters Tuesday she’ll be looking for additional action the state can take to reduce AI safety risks.

State Sen. Kristen Gonzalez, chair of the Internet and Technology committee, said she plans to push for a “rights-based” framework and focus on potentially high risk uses of AI. Her bills for next year include a data privacy measure and the New York AI Act, which seeks to address concerns about algorithmic bias in employment, courts, finance and other contexts.

That measure also includes whistleblower protections for employees of AI companies. New York Attorney General Letitia James today urged AI workers to report safety risks or violations of current state laws, offering an anonymous tip line.

Gonzalez also has a bill pending on Hochul’s desk that would regulate AI chatbots and assign liability to companies who develop them.

“There are so many bills, and together, if we were to pass all of these that track out liability, we would be able to actually start fighting these companies, not just through slowing their development … but also mitigating more in court and having a foundation to claim damages,” she said. — Marie J. French

From the Capitol

MERGER WATCH: The state Public Health and Health Planning Council voted today to approve a merger between NYC Health + Hospitals and Maimonides Health, a private hospital in Brooklyn.

"We all need to get behind this and make it work," PHHPC member Ann Monroe said during today’s meeting.

The merger was set into motion last year, after Hochul awarded $2.2 billion from the state-funded Safety Net Transformation Program to facilitate the deal. Maimonides has for years relied on substantial state support to keep its doors open, and state health officials expressed optimism that the combination would stabilize the hospital's finances.

The transaction was expected to close by April 1, but a judge ruled earlier this year that NYC Health + Hospitals and Maimonides first needed to obtain PHHPC’s approval.

Read the full story from POLITICO Pro's Maya Kaufman

FROM CITY HALL

PENSION PADDING: Several top officials from former Mayor Eric Adams’ administration are raking in inflated NYPD pensions that should be lowered, a report from New York City’s corruption watchdog recommended Thursday.

The Department of Investigation report revolves around the use of so-called 821 waivers under the Adams administration.

The waivers allow NYPD employees to be “on loan” to other agencies, including the mayor’s office, so they can maintain a police title that comes with pension benefits while working in another capacity.

In its report, DOI found the NYPD documented the waivers in an inconsistent way during Adams’ tenure, resulting in the city’s Police Pension Fund awarding overly large retirement benefits to former cops who served in top roles under Adams. But the watchdog agency determined the NYPD wasn’t squarely to blame for this, given that the pension fund also seemingly ignored 821 restrictions “in a manner inconsistent with the law.”

The DOI findings come after a string of corruption scandals roiled the Adams administration and the NYPD. Adams himself faced federal corruption charges in 2024 before President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice stepped in to spare the former mayor from prosecution.

The DOI’s latest findings don’t allege criminal wrongdoing, but the report lays out a number of recommendations for how the NYPD and the pension fund can prevent similar missteps. It also calls for all the allegedly inflated retirement benefits to be recalculated so the former cops in question aren’t getting taxpayer-funded benefits that are overly generous.

Among the former NYPD cops who netted padded pensions are Kaz Daughtry, who served as Adams’ deputy mayor for public safety; Louis Molina, Adams’ commissioner of correction and citywide administrative services; and Juanita Holmes, Adams’ probation commissioner.

“NYPD officials were treated inconsistently and some received a higher pension than they would otherwise have been eligible for, with taxpayers footing the bill,” Department of Investigation Commissioner Nadia Shihata said. “Those pensions should be recalculated and adjusted properly.”

Read the full story from Chris Sommerfeldt in POLITICO.

PREDICTED PROTESTS: NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said today she expects “multiple protests every day” next week as the city hosts the United Nations General Assembly.

No credible security threats have been identified, she noted, though the department will remain on high alert.

“The NYPD, as you know, handles thousands of protests and demonstrations each year, and there is no organization better trained to facilitate First Amendment activity,” Tisch said at a press conference with Mayor Zohran Mamdani. “Every year around the UN General Assembly time, we do see an uptick in the amount of protest activity, and this year I do not expect to be any different.”

The NYPD did not provide specific details on the number of protest permits filed or the exact number of demonstrations expected.

Some of the largest and most tumultuous protests are expected to take place ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech on Sept. 24.

Despite his strident anti-Israel rhetoric, Mamdani plans to skip next week’s protests, Chris Sommerfeldt first reported yesterday. When asked why he’s staying away, Mamdani cited a desire to focus on New Yorkers’ day-to-day transportation concerns during the assembly, which will cause significant traffic disruptions and road closures in Midtown.

Mamdani will not skip the UN proceedings altogether, though. He said he’s in the process of setting up meetings with foreign officials in town for the assembly, but did not elaborate on which ones. His press team did not immediately share any further details either. — Molly Reinmann

IN OTHER NEWS

— POINTING FINGERS: Some City Council members blamed Mamdani for a crime spike in the Bronx. (New York Post)

— SURVEILLANCE AND MURDER: Federal prosecutors accused five men of being part of a Kremlin-orchestrated network that planned to assassinate Russian dissidents and others in the United States and abroad. (The New York Times)

— DATA CENTER DIVIDE: Despite hesitating on the issue himself, Rep. Mike Lawler launched a seven-figure ad campaign attacking his Democratic challenger, Cait Conley, for her position on data centers. (New York Focus)

Missed this morning’s New York Playbook? We forgive you. Read it here.