New York Becomes the Second State to Regulate Frontier AI, and Your Agent Will Scheme to Save Its Friends
New York Finalizes the RAISE Act, Joining California in Regulating Frontier AI
On March 27, Governor Hochul signed the chapter amendment that completes New York's Responsible AI Safety and Education Act. The RAISE Act makes New York the second state to pass a comprehensive frontier AI law, after California's Transparency and Fairness in AI Act took effect on January 1, 2026. The final version aligns closely with California's approach: both laws use the same compute threshold to define frontier models and the same $500 million revenue threshold for large developers. Under the RAISE Act, large frontier developers must publish safety protocols, submit to third-party audits, report safety incidents, and protect whistleblowers. A new office within the New York Department of Financial Services will oversee enforcement. The law takes effect January 1, 2027.
The alignment between New York and California matters. When the two largest state economies converge on the same regulatory framework, they set a de facto national standard, regardless of whether Congress acts. The White House released its National AI Policy Framework on March 20, explicitly calling for federal preemption of state AI laws. New York's signing came a week later, signaling that states are not waiting. With over 35 states now carrying active AI bills (per the Transparency Coalition's April 3 legislative tracker), the question is no longer whether there will be regulation. It is whether it will be one framework or fifty.