NYC Lawmakers Propose Financial Rewards for AI Whistleblowers

New York City lawmakers want to offer financial incentives to whistleblowers who expose dangerous artificial intelligence practices, part of a package of bills aimed at tightening oversight of the technology.

One measure set to be debated by the City Council would give whistleblowers a share of fines or penalties recovered from AI companies after they report violations. Another would allow people harmed by AI systems to sue their developers under certain circumstances.

The bills were unveiled by Speaker Julie Menin ahead of an Oct. 5 hearing on AI risks and potential safeguards that will convene all 51 council members. The push comes as concerns about rapidly advancing models have intensified, including after former Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon resigned this month and warned that AI “could kill us all by the end of the decade.”

Menin asked the chief executives of Anthropic, OpenAI, Alphabet Inc.’s Google, SpaceX’s AI unit and Meta Platforms Inc. to participate in the Oct. 5 hearing and has said the council could use its subpoena power if necessary.

“New York City is fast becoming the technology and AI capital of the world, which we want to encourage,” Menin said in a statement. “But that also means we now have an even greater responsibility to ensure that we have the appropriate safeguards in place to protect New Yorkers from unintended consequences.”

Other proposals would require third-party validation before AI systems could be marketed, sold or deployed in the city and mandate a human-controlled “kill switch.” Another would impose data privacy, security and transparency requirements on chatbot providers that could be enforced by the city.

Photo: New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin Photographer: John Lamparski/Bloomberg