New York opens AI safety registration portal with $1M fines

New York opened a registration portal Tuesday that will require frontier AI developers including OpenAI and Anthropic to register by January 1, 2027, with fines reaching $1 million for a single violation and $3 million for repeat offenses. The portal is the enforcement mechanism for the RAISE Act, one of the most significant AI safety laws in the United States, which takes effect at the start of the year.

The law applies to what New York defines as large frontier developers — companies with more than $500 million in annual revenue. It imposes three core obligations: publish safety frameworks on company websites, report critical safety incidents within 72 hours, and issue public model transparency reports.

A new state body, the Office of Digital Innovation, Governance, Integrity, and Trust (DIGIT), will implement the act and oversee the large frontier labs. The state can also bring enforcement actions against companies that fail to register through the portal. A spokesperson declined to provide specifics on those actions — a gap worth noting, since enforcement power without published procedure gives regulators wide discretion.

What did Hochul say?

Governor Kathy Hochul framed the law as a check on the industry's momentum.

"Tech moguls tell us that their vision for AI is inevitable," Hochul said Tuesday at a press briefing. "They tell us get on board or get left behind … That any collateral damage is worth it as long as we win the race to the AI cliff."

She also launched the New York Center for AI Responsibility and Research, based at SUNY Binghamton. The center will independently evaluate the safety, security, and operation of advanced AI systems and work with DIGIT to review companies' safety frameworks. Hochul first announced the center in January, backed by $55 million in donations and capital funding.

"We're building a national model for smart, sensible AI regulation, a model that puts communities above corporations and people above powerful technology," Hochul said.

What else has New York passed?

The RAISE Act is not the state's only AI measure. New York already enforces a companion-chatbot law requiring operators to regularly tell users they are talking to a bot and to make reasonable efforts to detect suicidal ideation and self-harm.

In October, Hochul signed a separate minors' chatbot safety law. It restricts deceptive human-like interactions, emotionally manipulative or sycophantic responses, and encouragement of suicide or disordered eating. That law takes effect June 1, 2027.

How does this compare with other states?

New York joins a growing set of states regulating frontier AI development, each with different timelines and teeth.

• California SB 53 — took effect in January; mandates that frontier labs publish safety frameworks, enact whistleblower protections, and report critical safety incidents within 15 days.
• Illinois SB 315 — takes effect at the start of 2027; carries similar requirements plus independent safety compliance audits.
• New York RAISE Act — 72-hour incident reporting window, the shortest of the three, and fines up to $3 million.

For the major labs, the practical effect is a patchwork of state regimes with distinct reporting deadlines and audit duties, layered on top of their voluntary commitments. Whether DIGIT staffs up to enforce the 72-hour rule, and whether the $1 million penalty figure deters companies with revenues far above the $500 million threshold, will determine if the law changes behavior or merely adds paperwork ahead of the January 2027 registration deadline.

By Sophie Lindqvist, Chip Dispatch