Milstein on Intro 2599 chatbot bill and 2603 advertising
Milstein says DCWP has concerns about Intro 2599 on chatbot data privacy, citing deep technical requirements outside the agency's scope, and that the administration is working on chatbot rules. She says DCWP supports Intro 2603 on advertising disclosures, noting false advertising is already prohibited.
Pre-considered introduction of 2026-2599 would impose requirements and restrictions on companies that provide chatbots, including requirements related to data security and privacy,
the right of chatbot users to access their own data, and restrictions on how chatbot providers can use chatbot user data.
DCWP has concerns about this bill.
While we support Council's goal to better regulate companies'deployment of AI chatbots and believe the approach taken by this bill is sound,
the implementation and enforcement of this bill's data security and privacy requirements would require a deep technical understanding and investigative ability that is outside of the agency's scope.
To be clear, DCWP is committed to regulating harmful practices, including relating to chatbots, that fall within the agency's investigative ability.
To that end, the administration is working on rules related to the use of AI chatbots to better regulate this space for consumers.
The administration is also invested in supporting the New York Attorney General in their efforts to rein in data abuses, for which this bill may serve as a model.
Pre-considered introduction of 2026-2603 would require any advertisement that promotes an artificial intelligence AI model in the city to disclose whether such a model has undergone validation by a third party.
It also would prohibit any such advertisement from including any materially false or misleading statement regarding the safety of an AI model.
DCWP supports this bill to require disclosure of third-party validation of any advertisement of an AI model.
However, as mentioned above, the administration is not certain about the availability or abilities of such businesses, and we want to be clear that any advertising that uses false or misleading statements is currently prohibited under the city's consumer protection law
and will be enforced with the full scope of DCWP's authority.
We look forward to working with council to ensure the law includes effective enforcement mechanisms and to continue addressing issues within DCWP's scope of work as it relates to AI.
Thank you for the time.
This panel will now take questions.