The Tech Oversight Project today applauded the signature into law of the Responsible AI Safety and Education (RAISE) Act (S6953/A6453A), the landmark AI bill the organization has supported throughout this year’s session, and congratulated bill authors New York State Senator Andrew Gounardes and Assemblymember Alex Bores for successfully standing up to Big Tech:
“Parents across New York spoke up and united with Senator Andrew Gounardes and Assemblymember Alex Bores to push the RAISE Act’s critical AI protections over the finish line, past big-money opposition from Big Tech super PACs and into law. This is a key victory for the growing movement across the country to hold Big Tech CEOs accountable for their products and apply basic guardrails to the development and deployment of AI, and a rebuke to Big Tech’s influence in the Trump White House,” said The Tech Oversight Project Executive Director Sacha Haworth.
Big Tech’s Crusade Against the RAISE Act
In an unprecedented attack on AI safety legislation, Assemblymember Alex Bores became the first named political target of Leading the Future, a Super PAC spending millions against him with the personal backing of Marc Andreessen of a16z and Greg Brockman of OpenAI. The super PAC launched in September 2024 with the explicit goal of attacking Democrats for pursuing tech accountability and AI safety legislation and “generally align(ing) with White House AI and crypto czar David Sacks.”
The super PAC is aiming to replicate the crypto industry’s Fairshake model, which spent hundreds of millions to air negative ads attacking Democrats by mimicking conservative organizations’ most potent attacks but ultimately hiding their toxic political goals from the public. Leading the Future is even led by Josh Vlasto, formerly of Fairshake.
Despite this coordinated opposition from some of the world’s wealthiest tech executives and their allied super PACs, New York legislators stood firm in support of basic AI safety standards.
Advocates Fight Back
Throughout the campaign for the RAISE Act, parents and advocacy organizations across New York rallied in support of the legislation:
150+ NY parents’ letter to Gov. Hochul organized by The Tech Oversight Project & ParentsTogether (12/12/25)
“Some of the world’s largest AI companies are waging an aggressive lobbying campaign here in New York against even the most basic AI safety requirements, underscoring the stakes for kids, parents, and families as we stand at this crossroads in whether or not to have basic safety standards for AI.”
The Tech Oversight Project-cosigned coalition letter in support of the RAISE Act(11/17/25)
“The RAISE Act would put in place the basic protections that we failed to enact when social media was first released to the public. By taking action now, we can avoid the grave harms that resulted from letting social media run unregulated over our young people for over a decade. New York has the opportunity to establish a new national standard for AI safety.”
About the RAISE Act
The landmark legislation, which passed both houses of the New York State Legislature with overwhelming bipartisan support on June 12, 2025, requires the largest AI developers to implement enforceable safety plans that protect against catastrophic risks, including the development of biological weapons and automated large-scale criminal activity. The RAISE Act also establishes a dedicated state office to oversee implementation and mandates that companies report critical safety incidents to state authorities.
