New York's RAISE Act Awaits Governor’s Decision on AI Safety

- New York State Legislature passes Responsible AI for Safety and Transparency (RAISE) Act. - Bill mandates transparency, safety reports from major AI labs; awaits Governor's approval. On June 14, 2025, Cryptopolitan reported that New York passed a groundbreaking AI safety bill, the RAISE Act, which now awaits Governor Kathy Hochul's decision. This legislative measure aims to mitigate potential catastrophic disasters that advanced artificial intelligence models could cause. The RAISE Act's primary goal is to avert scenarios where AI models developed by major firms like OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic could lead to catastrophic outcomes. The bill defines these scenarios as those resulting in the death or injury of over 100 people or causing more than $1 billion in damages or losses. If enacted, the bill would establish the first legally mandated transparency standards for leading AI labs in the United States. Key provisions of the RAISE Act mandate that the largest AI labs publish safety and security reports on frontier AI models. These labs must also report safety incidents related to AI model behavior and instances of model theft by malicious actors. This applies to companies that used over $100 million in computing resources to train their AI models, provided their models are also available to New York residents. The bill aims to regulate major global AI firms, including those in California (such as OpenAI and Google) and China (such as DeepSeek and Alibaba). The enforcement mechanism empowers New York’s attorney general to impose civil penalties up to $30 million for non-compliance. New York State Senator Andrew Gounardes and Assemblymember Alex Bores sponsored the bill. They designed the RAISE Act not to stifle innovation among startups or academic researchers, addressing a common criticism faced by a similar California bill, SB 1047. Senator Gounardes emphasized the rapidly shrinking window to implement safeguards, noting that AI technology is evolving fast. Prominent figures in AI safety, including Nobel laureate Geoffrey Hinton and AI research pioneer Yoshua Bengio, also support the bill. However, the RAISE Act has faced opposition. Anthropic co-founder Jack Clark expressed concerns about the bill's broadness, noting potential risks for smaller firms. Andreessen Horowitz general partner Anjney Midha criticized it, calling it a "stupid, stupid state-level AI bill that will only hurt the US." Business groups have also voiced their concerns to Governor Hochul. The Chamber of Progress, a tech industry policy coalition, warned that the bill could drive innovation out of New York, labeling it an "eviction notice for New York's 9,000 AI startups" unless Governor Hochul vetoes it. They also criticized the bill for passing without a single public hearing, in contrast to California's SB 1047, which underwent over a year of public debate. Both houses of the New York State Legislature passed the RAISE Act around June 12-13. Governor Hochul has the option to sign it into law, veto it, or send it back for amendments.