New York Laws 'RAISE' the Bar in Addressing AI Safety: The RAISE Act and AI Companion Models
webThis legal alert analyzes New York's 2025-2026 AI regulatory landscape, including the RAISE Act and AI companion model regulations, which are relevant to AI safety governance and deployment oversight.
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Importance: 42/100news articleanalysis
Summary
This legal alert from Nelson Mullins covers New York's emerging AI regulatory framework, including the RAISE Act targeting frontier AI model developers and laws regulating AI companion chatbots. It also covers Governor Hochul's January 2026 State of the State address announcing new AI governance initiatives, including a new Office of Digital Innovation, Governance, Integrity & Trust (DIGIT) and legislation addressing deepfakes and data brokers.
Key Points
- •New York enacted the RAISE Act in 2025, regulating frontier AI model developers as part of an omnibus budget law.
- •New York passed laws to stop AI companion chatbots from encouraging suicide and self-harm.
- •Governor Hochul announced a new Office of Digital Innovation, Governance, Integrity & Trust (DIGIT) to oversee digital safety and technological governance.
- •New legislation targets AI-generated deepfakes, including provenance data labeling and bans on non-consensual deepfakes near elections.
- •New York also announced data broker regulation initiatives, including mandatory registration and a centralized data deletion mechanism.
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Privacy & Data Security Alert
Jan. 12, 2026
New York Laws “RAISE” the Bar in Addressing AI Safety: The RAISE Act and AI Companion Models
By Jennie Cunningham , Amanda Witt , Mallory Acheson, CIPM, CIPP/E, FIP
Update: On January 13, 2026, Governor Hochul outlined a number of AI-related initiatives and other data protection measures in her State of the State address. The Governor highlighted previous efforts, including "multiple first-in-the-nation laws to keep kids safe on social media, regulate frontier AI model developers, stop AI companion chatbots from encouraging suicide and self-harm, outlaw AI-generated child sexual abuse material, and bring transparency to AI-enabled corporate pricing practices." The new initiatives include:
A new AI agenda for NY, including establishing a new Office of Digital Innovation, Governance, Integri
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