Assembly considers artificial intelligence regulations

Assemblymember Alex Bores wants to require social media companies to preserve “content provenance” so New Yorkers know when posts online have been manipulated.

The Manhattan Democrat plans on introducing legislation, similar to proposals in California, directing platforms like Facebook and Twitter to retain and disclose the metadata on files promoted on their sites. He is considering a similar legislative effort targeting government too.

“We have to do this in a detailed way,” Bores told The Capitol Pressroom. “We have to make sure that what we’re preserving is just those edits and not, for example, exactly who created it and exactly where they live. There’s real privacy protections we want to get right in doing this bill.”

A full interview with Bores, which touched on a recent public hearing on regulating the use of artificial intelligence technology, is available below.

While online platforms generally balk at taking responsibility for the content they promote, Bores said he was pleasantly surprised to see written testimony from an industry trade group supporting the preservation of relevant data. “I think everyone is sharing the goals and I’m confident we’ll get to an answer,” he said.