Add Art 42-A §§1150 - 1155, Gen Bus L; amd §79-h, Civ Rts L
Enacts the "New York fundamental artificial intelligence requirements in (FAIR) news act"; provides requirements for fairness in disclosures to news media workers, news media consumers, oversight of AI systems, and workplace protections for news media workers.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
8451
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
July 7, 2025
___________
Introduced by Sen. FAHY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules
AN ACT to amend the general business law and the civil rights law, in
relation to enacting the "New York fundamental artificial intelligence
requirements in (FAIR) news act"
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may be cited as
2 the "New York fundamental artificial intelligence requirements in (FAIR)
3 news act".
4 § 2. The general business law is amended by adding a new article 42-a
5 to read as follows:
6 ARTICLE 42-A
7 ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN NEWS MEDIA
8 Section 1150. Legislative intent.
9 1151. Definitions.
10 1152. Disclosure to news media workers.
11 1153. Disclosure to consumers.
12 1154. Oversight of artificial intelligence systems.
13 1155. Workplace protections.
14 § 1150. Legislative intent. The legislature hereby finds that:
15 1. New York is the center of the American news industry and journal-
16 ists are a key part of the state's workforce.
17 2. Artificial intelligence can quickly generate articles, summaries,
18 news scripts, audio/visual and other media content that may seem profes-
19 sionally done to a lay observer. However, there is ample evidence that
20 content created by generative artificial intelligence: (a) contains
21 false or misleading content; and (b) plagiarizes by deriving its content
22 from original source material without permission or proper citation.
23 These failures are a disservice to the public who relies on the news for
24 accurate information about the world.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD13419-01-5
S. 8451 2
1 3. As such, the government has a strong interest in the preservation
2 of human news work. There is an urgent need to prevent news companies
3 from using artificial intelligence at the expense of both the broader
4 public and of news workers, including human reporters, editors, news
5 writers, directors, producers, voice actors, graphic designers and other
6 newsroom professionals.
7 4. It is therefore the intent of the legislature to establish clear,
8 meaningful protections for both journalists and the broader public to
9 ensure that the integrity of the news and its workforce are safeguarded.
10 § 1151. Definitions. For the purposes of this article, the following
11 terms shall have the following meanings:
12 1. "Artificial intelligence", "artificial intelligence technology", or
13 "AI" means a machine-based system that can, for a given set of human-de-
14 fined objectives, make predictions, recommendations, or decisions influ-
15 encing real or virtual environments, and that uses machine- and human-
16 based inputs to perceive real and virtual environments, abstract such
17 perceptions into models through analysis in an automated manner, and use
18 model inference to formulate options for information or action.
19 2. "Automated employment decision-making tool" shall mean any software
20 that uses algorithms, computational models, or artificial intelligence
21 techniques, or a combination thereof, to materially automate or replace
22 human decision-making regarding employment, including but not limited to
23 wages and other compensation, hiring, selection for recruitment, disci-
24 pline, promotion, and termination. "Automated employment decision-making
25 tool" shall not include any software used primarily for basic computer-
26 ized processes, such as calculators, spellcheck tools, autocorrect func-
27 tions, spreadsheets, electronic communications, or any tool that relates
28 only to internal management affairs such as ordering office supplies or
29 processing payments, and that do not materially affect the rights,
30 liberties, benefits, safety or welfare of any individual within the
31 state.
32 3. "Generative artificial intelligence" means a class of artificial
33 intelligence models that are self-supervised and emulate the structure
34 and characteristics of input data to generate derived synthetic content,
35 including, but not limited to, images, videos, audio, text, and other
36 digital content.
37 4. "News media" shall mean any publication or programming, regardless
38 of the medium or method of distribution, that provides news, weather,
39 traffic, sports, or entertainment reports or programming. This includes
40 but is not limited to newspapers, magazines, journals, periodicals,
41 websites, newsletters, television or cable programming, radio or podcast
42 programming, and internet or satellite-based content.
43 § 1152. Disclosure to news media workers. News media employers shall
44 fully disclose to workers when and how any generative artificial intel-
45 ligence tool is used in the workplace as it relates to the creation of
46 content, including, but not limited to, writing, recordings and tran-
47 scripts. Such disclosure shall include a description of the artificial
48 intelligence system and a summary of the purpose and use of such system.
49 § 1153. Disclosure to consumers. Any news media content published,
50 broadcast, or otherwise disseminated or accessible within the state of
51 New York, which was substantially composed, authored, or otherwise
52 created through the use of generative artificial intelligence shall
53 conspicuously imprint on the top of the page, webpage, image, graphic,
54 video or other visual or audio/visual content, or verbally orate at the
55 onset of audio content, that such content was substantially created by
S. 8451 3
1 generative artificial intelligence. If the content is eligible for copy-
2 right registration such disclosure requirement shall not apply.
3 § 1154. Oversight of artificial intelligence systems. Any news media
4 content, including stories, articles, audio, visuals or images, which
5 are created in whole or in material part by generative artificial intel-
6 ligence shall be reviewed by a human worker who has the authority to
7 approve, deny, or modify any decision recommended or made by the auto-
8 mated system before such content may be published with the disclosure
9 under section eleven hundred fifty-three of this article.
10 § 1155. Workplace protections. 1. News media employers shall not
11 directly or through a third party authorize the training of a generative
12 artificial intelligence system on the work product of a news media work-
13 er without notice, consent and an opportunity to bargain over appropri-
14 ate remuneration. A news media employer shall not penalize a news media
15 worker for declining to consent to allow their work product to be used
16 to train a generative artificial intelligence system.
17 2. (a) The use of generative artificial intelligence or automated
18 employment decision-making tools shall not diminish (i) the existing
19 rights of employees pursuant to an existing collective bargaining agree-
20 ment; or (ii) the existing representational relationships among employee
21 organizations or the bargaining relationships between the employer and
22 an employee organization.
23 (b) The use of generative artificial intelligence systems shall not
24 result in: (i) discharge, displacement or loss of position, including
25 partial displacement such as a reduction in the hours of non-overtime
26 work, wages, or employment benefits, or result in the impairment of
27 existing collective bargaining agreements; or (ii) transfer of existing
28 duties and functions previously performed by employees or workers.
29 § 3. Section 79-h of the civil rights law is amended by adding a new
30 subdivision (h) to read as follows:
31 (h) Employers of professional journalists and newscasters shall estab-
32 lish safeguards to protect journalistic sources and confidential materi-
33 als gathered through location tracking, surveillance or any other means,
34 which can be accessed by any artificial intelligence technology, as
35 defined by section eleven hundred fifty-one of the general business law.
36 § 4. Severability clause. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivi-
37 sion or section of this act shall be adjudged by any court of competent
38 jurisdiction to be invalid, such judgment shall not affect, impair, or
39 invalidate the remainder thereof, but shall be confined in its operation
40 to the clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision or section thereof
41 directly involved in the controversy in which such judgment shall have
42 been rendered. It is hereby declared to be the intent of the legislature
43 that this act would have been enacted even if such invalid provisions
44 had not been included herein.
45 § 5. This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall
46 have become a law.
