Mamdani: Feds 'abdicated' on AI, backs NY data center bill

NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani used a fireside chat at Webster Hall on Monday night to accuse the federal government of a 'complete abdication of federal law' on artificial intelligence, and to publicly back a state bill that would make Governor Hochul's July data center moratorium permanent.

Speaking with Ilana Glazer at the People's AI Assembly, convened by the AI Now Institute and More Perfect Union, Mamdani said national conversations frame AI as 'an arms race with China, and any of the humanistic concern, we just push to the side,' TechCrunch reported. He went after the industry's regulatory story directly: 'There is this desire to speak about [AI] as if it is infallible, as if it cannot be questioned, as if the only people who can regulate it are the ones who are currently developing it.'

When Glazer asked whether he would urge Hochul to sign the Responsible Data Center Development Act, Mamdani answered 'Yes,' then quipped, 'We had budgeted time for a "no" there, I guess,' according to La Voce di New York. The bill, introduced by State Senate Technology Committee Chair Kristen Gonzalez, cleared both New York chambers in June 2026 and now sits on the governor's desk. Gonzalez's own case for a statute rather than an executive order was blunt: 'Executive Orders and regulations can easily be modified or rescinded by future administrations.'

The in-person program sold out before doors opened at 6 p.m., with overflow routed to the livestream. Billed speakers included Lina Khan, Karen Hao, Naomi Klein, Arundhati Roy, Bhairavi Desai, and musician KOTA the Friend.

'As we are looking at what comes after this federal administration, there has to be a very different kind of framework in how we think about AI, talk about AI, the accountability we're willing to bring forward,' Mamdani told the hall.