Sen. Gounardes’ AI Safety Bill Passes the State Senate
The RAISE Act requires large AI developers to have a safety plan to prevent widespread harm and destruction
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: JUNE 12, 2025
New York State Senator Andrew Gounardes issued the following statement after his RAISE Act passed the State Senate:
"Would you let your child ride in a car with no seatbelt or airbags? Of course not. So why would you let them use an incredibly powerful AI without basic safeguards in place?
“New Yorkers want technology to make their lives better and easier, not put their health and safety at risk. My RAISE Act ensures AI can flourish while requiring the largest companies to have a safety plan so their products aren't used to hurt people. It's exactly the type of reasonable, commonsense safeguard we'd expect of any company working on a potentially dangerous product, and it ensures no one has an incentive to cut corners or put profits over safety. The RAISE Act is a step into the future we all want and deserve."
Background:
Artificial intelligence is evolving faster than any technology in human history, driving scientific advances, developing life-changing medicines, unlocking new creative pathways and automating mundane tasks. But in the wrong hands, it poses catastrophic risks to humanity.
The International AI Safety Report—led by a panel of expert advisors—recently warned that near-future AI systems may result in “large-scale labour market impacts, AI-enabled hacking or biological attacks, and society losing control over general-purpose AI,” among other potential risks to public safety. American AI models have been used in citizen surveillance in China, scams originating in Cambodia and as part of a “global cybercrime network.” OpenAI found their latest model “can help experts with the operational planning of reproducing a known biological threat” and is “on the cusp” of being able to help novices.
The Responsible AI Safety and Education (RAISE) Act (S6953B/A6453B), sponsored by State Senator Andrew Gounardes and Assemblymember Alex Bores, requires the largest AI developers to develop a safety plan to protect against automated crime, bioweapons and other widespread harm and destruction.
The RAISE Act responds to these threats with commonsense safeguards. The legislation:
Requires the largest AI companies to publish safety and security protocols and risk evaluations. These protocols cover severe risks, such as the assisting in the creation of biological weapons or carrying out automated criminal activity.
Requires companies to disclose serious incidents, such as if a dangerous AI model is stolen by a malicious actor or is behaving in a dangerous way.
Allows the New York State Attorney General to bring civil penalties against large AI companies that fail to live up to these standards.
Many major AI companies have voluntarily committed to create safety plans, but there is currently no legal requirement that they do so. By writing these protections into law, the RAISE Act ensures no company is incentivized to cut corners or put profits over safety. The law only applies to the largest AI companies that have spent over $100 million in computational resources to train advanced AI models, and focuses on the most urgent, severe risks.
The RAISE Act is a targeted, forward-looking bill that creates safety standards and incident reporting for the most powerful AI models, ensuring New York stays ahead of emerging threats without stifling innovation.
Press Contact:
Billy Richling
Communications Director
State Senator Andrew Gounardes
billy@senatorgounardes.nyc
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