A bill checking the use of generative artificial intelligence, a rapidly developing technology, was hailed as a win by the labor movement.
ALBANY -- State agencies will be required to closely monitor their use of artificial intelligence software that has the power to reshape government decision-making under legislation signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul this week that erects guardrails on the rapidly developing technology.
The bill also represents a win for the labor movement. The "LOADinG" Act was cheered by union leaders who have long expressed concerns with generative artificial intelligence, which is poised to drastically reshape the labor market. The labor sector has sought to protect employees who may find their jobs significantly altered or even eliminated by the technology.
"It is important for workers to have an opportunity to help shape this evolving landscape as well as benefit from it," Hochul wrote in a statement accompanying her approval of the legislation. "Changes were necessary to ensure regulation of automated decision-making systems is done appropriately, including by clarifying the disclosures regarding the use of automated employment decision-making tools and artificial intelligence systems, as well as ensuring that the use of artificial intelligence systems may not affect the rights and privileges of employees pursuant to existing collective bargaining agreements."
The bill will require more comprehensive oversight from each state agency that has software that uses algorithms, computational models or artificial intelligence techniques to generate "conclusions, recommendations, outcomes, assumptions, projections or predictions without meaningful human discretion."
Lawmakers who backed the measure in this year's legislative session said they were concerned by the possible influence of artificial intelligence in shaping often highly consequential decisions for residents, like eligibility for social benefits programs.
The law will require agencies to regularly conduct impact assessments of the software they use and to publicize those reports on their website every two years. It also curtails the ability of state government to limit the job functions or hours for public sector employees because they were displaced by generative artificial intelligence software.
"I am encouraged that this legislation will result in transparency on state agency AI use and commonsense protections for the state workforce. While we recognize AI's potential to enhance efficiency, it is crucial that its use respects the invaluable contributions of dedicated public sector workers," said Mario Cilento, the longtime head of the labor union AFL-CIO.
Some local municipalities have turned to artificial intelligence-powered software to simplify public sector work, which comes as agencies have struggled to fill open jobs at the state and local level.
The Public Employees Federation, one of the state's largest unions and which represents more than 50,000 members, including professional, scientific and technical workers, had also urged Hochul to approve the measure, citing examples of "significant errors" in existing AI-powered state work. The union's president, Wayne Spence, has highlighted the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision's use of a program that purports to determine the threat posed by people on parole.
"Unregulated and nontransparent expansion of AI systems into government decision making processes -- like social services, unemployment insurance benefit determinations, and workers' compensation claims -- is completely irresponsible and potentially dangerous," the union said in a memo urging Hochul to sign the bill.
Hochul has previously indicated a reluctance to commit New York to regulating usage of generative AI and said the federal government should ultimately be responsible for broad oversight. But she has taken more steps in recent months to shape the direction of the technology's growth in New York.
Her administration earlier this year announced the Empire AI Consortium, a well-funded state and private partnership dedicated to researching and directing the artificial intelligence industry.