NEW YORK — A prominent New York City politician took centerstage in the AI debate Monday — and it wasn’t Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
In a much anticipated hearing that featured a litany of dystopian predictions, City Council Speaker Julie Menin grilled representatives from four leading AI firms who appeared virtually before the 51-member legislative body. The lawmaker emerged from the marathon session as City Hall’s chief AI antagonist.
“It’s disappointing that they can’t seem to answer some of the most basic, rudimentary questions: They can’t quantify what the risk is of a cataclysmic event. They can’t answer the question of whether or not they would release any of their models that failed an internal safety test or third-party validation test,” Menin told reporters. “They couldn’t answer if they even have catastrophic insurance [and] they couldn’t answer if the company should be liable if there’s catastrophic damage, death, injury, etc.”
While Mamdani has proven his ability to seize and hold the spotlight with zeitgeist-y issues — think affordability, housing and Gaza — he has ceded the spotlight on AI regulation to Menin, even as concerns over the emerging technology are becoming the defining political issue of the moment. That has given one of his chief political rivals, whose very job is designed as a check on the executive branch, fuel to boost her profile on an issue that resonates deeply with voters.