New York’s laws that regulate artificial intelligence technology have one powerful bloc against them: federal Republicans.
Republicans in Congress are looking to stop states from enforcing laws that set guardrails on the use of artificial intelligence.
A proposed 10-year moratorium on state-level enforcement, introduced last week as part of a federal budget reconciliation bill, would be a win for large tech companies. But it’s a potential blow to state lawmakers across the country, including in New York, who have been pushing to regulate the burgeoning industry that has presented new safety concerns.
Legislators in Albany passed new measures last week to crack down on sexually explicit deep fakes of minors and to address concerns that people are becoming emotionally dependent on AI chatbots that mimic human conversation.
New York currently has other laws on AI use, including ones that prevent election interference through the use of deep fakes of candidates and that require state agencies to disclose when they use AI or automated decision-making tools for employment matters or in other significant matters.
Congressional Republicans in Congress, however, say the moratorium is necessary to let the Department of Commerce use AI technologies for its work and to give federal lawmakers time to establish national AI policies.
“We know we need to have a national standard,” said Congressman Brett Guthrie, R-Kentucky.
But Democrats argue the extended pause will be damaging and dangerous.
“All of these protections are protections that Congress refuses to take up, and so states are taking up this responsibility,” Congressional Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14) said in a public mark-up of the House Energy and Commerce’s proposed bill on Tuesday.
Ocasio-Cortez, who was a member of the House Task Force on Artificial Intelligence, cited statistics on the harmful effects of AI technologies in the absence of tighter regulations. One in eight teenagers, she said, had a friend or someone they knew who were targets of sexually exploitative deep fakes.
She warned that the moratorium would halt laws that have been passed in New York, and referenced legislation written by Democratic state Sen. Kristen Gonalez and Assemblymember Clyde Vanel, both from Queens, that would require chatbots to detect expressions of self harm and refer individuals to support networks.
“That would be wiped out,” Ocasio-Cortez said, if the moratorium gets approved.
Gonzalez, who leads the Senate Internet and Technology Committee, said the idea of the moratorium is alarming.
“To undermine those efforts with this overreaching and sweeping pause on enforcement would be an incredible blow to all of the constituents that we've worked to represent and protect,” she said.
In an interview with the New York Public News Network, Gonzalez also referenced another law passed as part of New York’s budget last week that would require AI companies to issue disclaimers that AI companion models, or chatbots, are not human.
“Chatbot companies are causing real harm by getting their users hooked, and disregarding their users’ mental health,” Gonzalez said. “Through this legislation, we have been pushing for more transparency for consumers when dealing with this so they have a reminder that they're not interacting with a human.”
