New AI Laws in New York and California

The U.S. still lacks a comprehensive federal AI law — but something important is happening at the state level.

With New York enacting the Responsible AI Safety and Education (RAISE) Act and California advancing AI transparency requirements under SB53, we can now clearly see convergence between the two most influential U.S. state economies on AI governance.

Together, New York and California are effectively setting a baseline for AI accountability, transparency, and safety— especially for frontier AI models — while federal regulation continues to lag.

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New York: The RAISE Act

➡️ Applicability to companies with more than USD 500 million in annual revenue

➡️ Mandatory AI safety plans for frontier model developers

➡️ 72-hour incident reporting for serious AI-related safety events

➡️ Public transparency and disclosure obligations

➡️ Oversight by a newly established AI office

➡️ Enforcement powers for the New York Attorney General

➡️ Civil penalties of up to USD 1 million (and up to USD 3 million for repeat violations)

California: SB 53

SB 53 focuses on:

➡️ transparency obligations for AI developers,

➡️ disclosure of AI system capabilities and limitations,

➡️ accountability mechanisms for high-impact AI models,

➡️ alignment with broader consumer protection principles.

Correlation Between NewYork and California

This alignment matters because:

➡️ it reduces regulatory fragmentation for large AI developers,

➡️ it creates predictable compliance expectations,

➡️ it effectively sets a minimum standard for AI safety in the U.S.

In the absence of federal AI law, state-level regulation is filling the gap, and the two most influential states are moving in the same direction: transparency, accountability, and risk-based oversight. For organizations, this means that waiting for “one federal law” is no longer a viable strategy. Instead, companies should already be aligning AI governance with broader cybersecurity, risk management, and compliance programs. Just as privacy regulation evolved from California outward, AI governance is now following a similar path.

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Author: Sebastian Burgemejster