AI Now Urges NYC Council to Add Friction to AI in Sensitive Areas
AI Now Institute Program Associate Aashna Agarwal testified before the New York City Council on AI risks, arguing that AI companies' financial interests clash with protecting the public from the technology they build. She called on the Council to use its power and leverage to protect New Yorkers.
- AI Now Program Associate Aashna Agarwal testified on Monday, October 5th, 2026, at a NYC Council Committee of the Whole hearing on AI risks.
- She said AI companies' capital interests conflict with protecting the public from the risks of their own technology.
- She urged the Council to maximize friction around AI in sensitive social domains.
- She also called for redress of existing AI harms and resistance to power concentration in the AI industry.
- AI Now published the full testimony, titled "Reasserting AI Safety for New Yorkers."
Testimony at a Committee of the Whole hearing
Agarwal appeared on Monday, October 5th, 2026, at a Committee of the Whole hearing of the New York City Council. According to AI Now, the hearing focused on the concrete risks of AI acceleration.
In her testimony, Agarwal laid out three critical ways in which the capital interests of AI companies conflict with safeguarding the public from the risks posed by the very technology those companies are developing. AI Now has published the full testimony, titled "Reasserting AI Safety for New Yorkers," as a downloadable document on its website.
Three recommendations for the Council
Based on that analysis, Agarwal called on the Council to use its power and leverage to protect New Yorkers. According to AI Now, she made three recommendations:
- Maximize friction when it comes to the integration of AI into sensitive social domains.
- Remedy and redress the harms AI has already brought to New Yorkers.
- Resist the concentration of power in the AI industry and the single points of failure it creates, which put public safety and the resilience of City infrastructure at risk.
What it means for New York
The testimony frames AI governance as a question of local responsibility. Agarwal's third point links the market structure of the AI industry directly to municipal concerns: when power is concentrated among a few companies, the single points of failure this creates can threaten the resilience of City infrastructure as well as public safety, according to AI Now.
The source does not specify which measures the Council might adopt, and it does not describe the Council's response to the testimony. What it does show is the position AI Now brought to the hearing: that the Council should slow AI's adoption in sensitive areas, address existing harms, and push back against industry concentration. The full testimony is available on the AI Now Institute website for those who want the detailed arguments behind the three recommendations.
AI Now Institute: AI Now’s Aashna Agarwal Testifies before NYC Council Committee of the Whole
