On October 1, 2024, AI Now’s Associate Director Kate Brennan provided testimony to the New York City Council Committee on Technology hearing on Rejecting Corporate Capture of New York City’s Public AI Infrastructure Projects. She told the Committee:

“Public infrastructure projects like MyCity will allow Big Tech firms to entrench their data advantages using citizen data and create more opaque infrastructures for citizen surveillance. This, in turn, worsens market concentration and raises serious privacy flags.

For example, the City’s Chief Technology Officer Matthew Fraser outlined a vision for MyCity that includes replacing traditional government payroll and city benefit checks with centralized digital wallets that allow government agencies to track how New Yorkers are spending their money. In fact, Fraser earnestly suggested a dystopian surveillance system where the city could provide ‘incentive points’ for people who spend their food benefits on ‘something healthy versus sugary snacks or soda.’ This raises serious privacy concerns, and begs the question why tracking intimate data about people’s spending habits is necessary for the effective or efficient delivery of government services.”

Read her full testimony below:

NYC Council Testimony_AI Now_MyCity Portal_September 2024Download