Mamdani Urges New Yorkers to Stand Up to Unchecked AI as Federal Rules Stall

At a crowded Webster Hall on Monday evening, Mayor Zohran Mamdani and comedian-activist Ilana Glazer tackled the rapidly spreading role of artificial intelligence in daily life, with Mamdani calling on city residents to push back against what he described as an accelerating, unaccountable rollout. He warned that while Washington has largely stepped back from setting strong limits, municipal leaders and communities can still shape how the technology is used here.

The conversation, part of an event organized by the AI Now Institute, focused on how public officials should push companies to explain and justify deployments of automated systems. Mamdani told the crowd the spread of AI isn’t an unstoppable force and that elected officials must press firms to answer for errors and harms. “If we sit back and treat this like fate, we give up the ability to choose what’s acceptable in our schools, workplaces and neighborhoods,” he said in an interview after the stage discussion. Dr. Maya Rajan, an AI policy researcher at NYU, said cities are increasingly becoming the policy laboratories for controls that federal lawmakers won’t pass, adding that local rules can force transparency in the near term.

Mamdani has already moved on that premise. In September he prohibited AI tools in New York City’s elementary and middle schools, a directive intended to limit exposure for younger students. Glazer, who attended the event with her child, said she finds the technology’s sudden presence in classrooms unsettling and worries parents are being presented with little choice. “It feels like decisions are being made for us without asking,” she told the audience. The mayor also proposed a rule requiring clear labeling when rental or sale listings use AI-generated images or video, a measure meant to guard against deceptive postings and protect consumers from manipulated visuals.

He pointed to recent, high-profile consequences of overreliance on automated systems. Mamdani noted a U.S. strike earlier this year on a school in Iran that killed well over 150 people, with at minimum 123 of the victims identified as children, and said investigators have pointed to excessive trust in targeting algorithms as one contributing factor. Those events, he said, show that technological shortcuts can have catastrophic human costs when no extra layer of human oversight exists.

Mamdani criticized the national conversation for framing advanced AI largely as a strategic competition with China, rather than a social problem that requires rules and safeguards. He also voiced concern about moves to let major AI firms police themselves as they prepare to tap public markets; some developers are expected to list shares in the coming months and year. “Talk of market timing and rivalry can crowd out questions about safety and rights,” he said. Independent analysts have warned that without stronger federal standards, piecemeal local measures will leave gaps and uneven protections across states.

As the current federal administration winds down, Mamdani said New Yorkers must insist on a different approach to regulating automated systems — one that embeds oversight, public input and enforceable limits. He urged residents to press their representatives, participate in community review processes and support city policies that require transparency and accountability from tech firms. “If we don’t decide where and how these tools are used, somebody else will,” he said.