New York state lawmakers passed a bill on Thursday that goals to stop frontier AI fashions from OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic from contributing to catastrophe situations, 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 misplaced floor lately as Silicon Valley and the Trump Administration have prioritized velocity and innovation. Security advocates together with Nobel prize laureate Geoffrey Hinton and AI analysis pioneer Yoshua Bengio have championed the RAISE Act. Ought to it grow to be legislation, the invoice would set up America’s first set of legally mandated transparency requirements for frontier AI labs.
The RAISE Act has among the similar provisions and targets as California’s controversial AI security invoice, SB 1047, which was finally vetoed. Nevertheless, the co-sponsor of the invoice, New York state Senator Andrew Gounardes instructed TechCrunch in an interview that he intentionally designed the RAISE Act such that it doesn’t chill innovation amongst startups or educational researchers — a typical criticism of SB 1047.
“The window to put in place guardrails is rapidly shrinking given how fast this technology is evolving,” mentioned Senator Gounardes. “The people that know [AI] the best say that these risks are incredibly likely […] That’s alarming.”
The RAISE Act is now headed for New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s desk, the place might both signal the invoice into legislation, ship it again for amendments, or veto it altogether.
If signed into legislation, New York’s AI security invoice would require the world’s largest AI labs to publish thorough security and safety experiences on their frontier AI fashions. The invoice additionally requires AI labs to report security incidents, akin to regarding AI mannequin conduct or unhealthy actors stealing an AI mannequin, ought to they occur. If tech corporations fail to reside as much as these requirements, the RAISE Act empowers New York’s Lawyer Common to carry 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 educated utilizing greater than $100 million in computing assets (seemingly, greater than any AI mannequin accessible at this time), and are being made accessible to New York residents.
Whereas just like SB 1047 in some methods, the RAISE Act was designed to handle criticisms of earlier AI security payments, in line with Nathan Calvin, the Vice President of State Affairs and Common 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 switch” on their fashions, nor does it maintain corporations that post-train frontier AI fashions accountable for essential 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 instructed TechCrunch. Bores known as the trade resistance unsurprising, however claimed that the RAISE Act wouldn’t restrict innovation of tech corporations in any method.
“The NY RAISE Act is yet another stupid, stupid state level AI bill that will only hurt the US at a time when our adversaries are racing ahead,” mentioned Andreessen Horowitz basic associate Anjney Midha in a Friday post on X. Andreessen Horowitz, alongside the 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 might current a danger to “smaller companies.”
When requested about Anthropic’s criticism, state Senator Gounardes instructed 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 frequent 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 identical criticism introduced in opposition to SB 1047, and it’s largely what’s performed out in Europe because of the continent’s robust laws on expertise.
Assemblymember Bores instructed TechCrunch that the regulatory burden of the RAISE Act is comparatively mild, 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 will not be one thing most corporations would take flippantly.
“I don’t want to underestimate the political pettiness that might happen, but I am very confident that there is no economic reason for [AI companies] to not make their models available in New York,” mentioned Assemblymember Bores.
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