Opinion

New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin recently held a hearing on AI safety. Gerardo Romo/New York City Council

Well before the New York City Council’s marathon hearing on artificial intelligence safety this month, City & State had been on the front lines of AI, with award-winning reporting on the technology. And state Sen. Kristen Gonzalez writes in this week’s magazine about the need for further AI regulation in Albany.

The technology is fundamentally changing how we gather and verify the information we publish. In late 2023, soon-to-be New York City Council Member Susan Zhuang answered a question in our Meet the New City Council Members feature with AI, which she chalked up to not being a native English speaker. More recently, elected officials have used AI to write op-eds they submitted to City & State. The ubiquity of AI usage by elected officials was a wake-up call, and now our workflow includes running written submissions through Pangram to detect AI content. This approach is already paying dividends.

City Hall reporter Shenal Tissera recently emailed 29 City Council members’ offices to ask about affordable housing development. He received seven responses that Pangram said likely included AI-generated text.

It’s disappointing that elected officials are relying on AI for public communications. New Yorkers voted for you because of your lived experience and your positions on key issues – not Claude’s. New Yorkers deserve to have accurate, authentic information from their elected officials, who can serve as a trusted source of community news. City & State is committed to using AI detection software for the long haul – and perhaps sending fewer emails and making a lot more phone calls. So expect to hear from us – because the public wants to hear from you!