NY’s New AI Safety Bill & More

NY Gov Signs AI Safety Bill

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) signed legislation (AB 6453/SB 6953) establishing safety and reporting requirements for major developers of so-called frontier artificial intelligence models. Developers that fail to comply with the law will face penalties of up to $1 million for a first violation and up to $3 million for subsequent violations. The state is the second, after California (SB 53), to enact such a law. (NEW YORK GOVERNOR’S OFFICE, LEXISNEXIS STATE NET)

NY Enacts Social Media Warning Label Bill

New York also enacted legislation (AB 5346/SB 4505) requiring warning labels on social media platforms with addictive features like algorithmic feeds, autoplay and infinite scroll. California (AB 56), Colorado (HB 1136 [2024]) and Minnesota (HB 2 a) have passed similar laws. (NEW YORK SENATE, LEXISNEXIS STATE NET)

LA Public Service Commission Adopts Data Center-Friendly Rule

The Louisiana Public Service Commission adopted a new rule streamlining the approval process for utility power projects geared mainly toward data centers. That process includes the suspension of certain consumer protections, and although the rule change also requires large-scale customers to pay half the cost of such new power plants, consumers may have to cover the other half. (LOUISIANA ILLUMINATOR)

MD Lawmakers Require Impact Assessment of Data Centers

Maryland lawmakers overrode Gov. Wes Moore’s (D) veto of a bill (SB 116) requiring the state to assess the economic, energy and environmental impacts of data center development. Sen. Karen Lewis Young (D), one of the co-filers of the bill, said that in the months since Moore vetoed the measure in May, citing fiscal constraints, concern had grown all across the state “about the potential consequences of data centers.” (FREDERICK NEWS POST)

—Compiled by SNCJ Managing Editor KOREY CLARK