Assemblymember Clyde Vanel presents the High Risk AI Act

Good evening.

Good evening, Madam Speaker, and also good evening to the chair, Carmen de la Rosa, and to my council member, Deputy Speaker Dr.

Nantasha Williams, who is the sponsor of Resolution 175.

The resolution supporting the bill High Risk Advanced Artificial Intelligence Act.

Artificial intelligence, when used properly, is a net good.

Education, healthcare, business, these are great uses.

But talking about them while ignoring the risk that AI could actually kill and strike us,

It, to me, seems absurd.

Companies are racing towards general artificial intelligence, and some of their systems are already too dangerous to release publicly.

This is by their own admission.

We saw this coming.

So with Assembly Bill,

3356, the Artificial Intelligence Act, a few years ago, the idea is simple.

The more harm that an AI system can do,

the more accountability that it should carry.

The bill identifies high-risk artificial intelligence systems, AI that diagnoses patients,

that runs our power grid, or helps police or judges make decisions, and far more, it requires them to be licensed before operating in New York.

Under the act,

The companies must report malfunctions and hacks like the recent Hugging Face case.

It must get states signed off before major changes and set up an independent ethics risk board that reports to the state annually.

Finally, it writes a binding ethical code into the law.

New York took its first step with the RAISE Act, and I commend our colleagues and the state for passing it.

But now none of this that we're doing is meant to stop innovation.

We can't know that AI will be capable of in a few years.

But for tomorrow and for today, we must decide properly the path forward.

I'd like to thank the council for putting this hearing together, and we must work on this together.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.