New York has opened a registration portal for large frontier AI developers, starting a new phase of state oversight. The RAISE Act takes effect at the start of 2027 and requires covered companies to register by January 1, 2027, publish safety frameworks, report critical incidents and release transparency reports.
What the RAISE Act requires
The law applies to large frontier developers, defined in the source as companies with more than $500 million in annual revenue. The requirements connect public disclosure with safety reporting: companies must explain their safety frameworks on their websites, publish model transparency reports and report critical safety incidents within 72 hours.
Those obligations give regulators and the public several kinds of information to assess. A safety framework describes a company’s approach to safety, while incident reporting sets a deadline for notifying the state about critical events. Public model reports add another channel for transparency.
The portal is the first step for registration. The state can also bring enforcement actions against companies that do not register, although a spokesperson declined to provide specifics about how that process would work.
DIGIT will oversee enforcement
Implementation falls to the newly formed Office of Digital Innovation, Governance, Integrity, and Trust, known as DIGIT. The office will oversee large frontier AI labs and administer the RAISE Act’s requirements.
The law provides for penalties of up to $1 million for one violation and $3 million for subsequent violations. That makes compliance a matter of operational planning for the companies covered: they will need to register, maintain published materials and meet the incident-reporting deadline.
Governor Kathy Hochul described the law as a response to the risks of a rapid AI race. At a Tuesday briefing, she said: “Tech moguls tell us that their vision for AI is inevitable,” and added, “They tell us get on board or get left behind …That any collateral damage is worth it as long as we win the race to the AI cliff.”
A research center will review safety frameworks
Hochul also launched the New York Center for AI Responsibility and Research at State University of New York’s Binghamton University. The center is intended to independently evaluate the safety, security and operation of advanced AI systems. It will work with DIGIT to review companies’ safety frameworks.
The center was first announced in January with $55 million in donations and capital. Its work adds an evaluation role alongside the new office’s implementation and oversight responsibilities.
Hochul said: “We’re building a national model for smart, sensible AI regulation, a model that puts communities above corporations and people above powerful technology.”
New York’s broader rules and other state approaches
The RAISE Act joins other AI safety laws in New York. A law the state began enforcing last year requires AI companion operators to regularly tell users they are speaking with a bot and make reasonable efforts to detect suicidal ideation and self-harm.
In October, Hochul signed a separate chatbot safety law focused on minors. It restricts deceptive human-like interactions, emotionally manipulative or sycophantic responses, and encouragement of behaviors such as suicide or disordered eating. The law takes effect June 1, 2027.
Other states have also adopted measures similar to the RAISE Act. California’s SB 53, which took effect in January, requires frontier AI labs to establish and publish safety frameworks, protect whistleblowers and report critical safety incidents within 15 days. Illinois’s SB 315 is scheduled to take effect at the start of 2027; it has similar requirements and adds independent safety compliance audits.
The state measures share an emphasis on documented safety practices and incident disclosure, while their details and timelines differ. For companies operating across states, the set of requirements includes New York’s 72-hour reporting window, California’s 15-day window and Illinois’s independent audits.