New York City Council Unveils AI Regulation Package Including Whistleblower Rewards and Emergency Shut-Off Switches

New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin on September 25 unveiled a package of bills aimed at strengthening AI regulation, ahead of an October 5 hearing on AI risks and potential safeguards. According to Bloomberg, the proposed measures include financial rewards for whistleblowers who report violations by AI companies, with payouts drawn from fines collected from those firms. Another measure would allow individuals harmed by AI systems to sue the system developers under certain circumstances.

Additional proposals would require AI systems to pass third-party verification before being marketed, sold, or deployed in New York City, and to be equipped with human-controlled emergency shut-off switches. Chatbot providers would also need to comply with data privacy, security, and transparency rules, with the city empowered to enforce those requirements.

Menin has requested the CEOs of Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, SpaceX's AI division, and Meta to attend the October 5 hearing, and said the council could exercise subpoena power if necessary. She noted that New York City is rapidly becoming a global hub for technology and artificial intelligence, adding that the city has a responsibility to establish safeguards to protect residents from unintended consequences. All 51 members of the City Council are expected to participate in the hearing.