New York’s AI Safety Bill Weakened Amid Opposition from Academia and Big Tech

An influential coalition of leading technology companies and prestigious academic institutions rallied against the RAISE Act, resulting in significant alterations at the eleventh hour.

This collective of tech giants and universities invested tens of thousands of dollars—ranging from $17,000 to $25,000—in an advertising blitz that purportedly reached more than two million people, as documented by Meta’s Ad Library. Their target was New York's RAISE Act, officially known as the Responsible AI Safety and Education Act. Recently, a version of this legislation received the signature of New York Governor Kathy Hochul.

While the law requires tech companies such as OpenAI and Meta to disclose safety measures for large-scale AI models, the governor signed a revised version different from the one initially passed by the state's Senate and Assembly in June—with significant concessions to the technology sector's preferences.

Efforts to Dilute the RAISE Act: The Parties Involved

The AI Alliance spearheaded the campaign opposing the RAISE Act. This group boasts members like Meta, IBM, Oracle, and AMD. In June, they warned lawmakers that the bill was ‘impractical.’ Not just tech firms, the alliance also includes global academic leaders, such as New York University, Carnegie Mellon, and Yale Engineering, among others.

Their marketing campaign sported the headline, 'The RAISE Act will stifle job growth,' warning that it could hinder the state’s tech landscape that fuels hundreds of thousands of jobs. They advocated for AI development that supports progress, transparency, and reinforcement of New York’s tech industry.

Academic Institutions Respond to Ad Involvement

When approached about their unwitting involvement in a campaign opposing the widely followed AI bill, the listed universities, save for Northeastern, remained silent. Northeastern, however, confirmed partnerships that provide AI access—50,000 Anthropic licenses for its stakeholders globally, for instance.

Other institutions like NYU and Carnegie Mellon engage in relationships with AI corporations to enhance their educational resources in technology ethics and AI innovation.

The initial draft of the RAISE Act posed strict regulations on deploying frontier models potentially causing high-scale damage or crime, including a billion-dollar threshold or mass casualty events similar to human-instigated scenarios. However, Hochul’s adjustments extended incident reporting deadlines and decreased penalties.

Broader Opposition and Collaborative AI Development Goals

In alignment with their mission to safely democratize AI benefits, the AI Alliance also campaigns against restrictive AI governance. They aim to unite creators and field specialists to address generative AI challenges collaboratively.

Besides lobbying, the Alliance works on projects like cataloging secure datasets and prioritizing AI safety measures. Notably, it wasn't alone; another opposition group, Leading the Future, a pro-AI super PAC, also launched targeted ads against the bill’s supporter, New York State Assemblymember Alex Bores.

Leading the Future contrasts as a super PAC intent on promoting specific AI interests, while the AI Alliance is a nonprofit dedicated to cooperative AI advancements, balancing ethics and innovation to benefit society at large.