Recently, New York lawmakers have proposed the Responsible AI Safety and Education Act, which was signed into law by Governor Kathy Hochul. This act requires social media sites such as Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram to display warning labels to minors regarding the addictive design of the platform.
Besides the social media warning labels, the bill also establishes safety regulations on major AI companies and requires them to inform the government within 72 hours if they have evidence that harm is going to occur originating from one of their platforms. This act is like laws proposed to provide warning labels for addictive substances such as tobacco, meant to warn minors of the dangers involved with the product.
According to the law, a 10-second-long warning will be required to appear when a minor logs into a social media account. After that, they will receive a 30-second-long warning after three hours of use, and another warning every hour past the third.
Andrew Gounardes, a state Senator who was a supporter of the bill, gave a statement about the bill: “When Big Tobacco was killing thousands of Americans, we stepped in with smart, thoughtful regulations to save lives,” they continue, “It’s time to do the same with Big Tech. This is about ensuring the internet is a tool that serves us, not the other way around.”
Before the bill was signed, Kathy Hochul used her executive power as the Governor of New York to make changes to the bill. The changes were allegedly to make the bill closely resemble a bill passed in California, attempting to make regulations on AI companies more standardized.
Hochul said the following in a statement: “This law builds on California’s recently adopted framework, creating a unified benchmark among the country’s leading tech states as the federal government lags behind, failing to implement common-sense regulations that protect the public.”
