On Monday, October 5th, 2026, AI Now Program Associate Aashna Agarwal testified before the New York City Council at a Committee of the Whole hearing on the concrete risks of AI acceleration. In her testimony, Aashna outlined three critical ways that AI companies’ capital interests conflict with safeguarding the public from the risks posed by the very technology they are developing, and called on the Council to use its power and leverage to protect New Yorkers:
- Maximize friction when it comes to the integration of AI into sensitive social domains.
- Remedy and redress the harms AI has brought to New Yorkers already.
- 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.
Read her full testimony below.
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