New York’s statehouse has been a recent hotspot for debate about the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and media.
In December 2025, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law the New York AI Synthetic Performers Disclosure Law (Senate Bill S8420A), requiring ad creators in the TV and film verticals to disclose when their content features AI-generated “synthetic” performers. As of June 9, 2026, the law is now in effect.
Last week the New York State Senate and Assembly passed Assembly Bill A11292 and Senate Bill S9934A, known as the New York Stealth Crawler Prohibition Act, which protects news media from having their content digitally mined by “stealth crawlers from unscrupulous tech companies,” according to the News/Media Alliance’s celebratory announcement. The Alliance persistently lobbied for the bill, which was also championed by the New York Publishers Association and New York State Broadcasters Association.
On June 6, News/Media Alliance President and CEO Danielle Coffey explained in a statement, “Right now, news websites are drowning in bot traffic. Bad bots are disguising their identities to overload publisher servers and access the quality content on our sites, hurting our ability to serve readers. This bill will be a simple, common-sense solution to this problem.”
The New York FAIR News Act (Senate Bill S8451B) is also on its way to Governor Hochul’s desk for signature — or veto, as the case may be. It’s a bill that advanced through the legislative process with little fanfare outside of the state, but significant consequence beyond its borders. It requires that news media publishers disclose when AI is used to produce journalism — and imposes penalties for noncompliance ($1,000 for the first offense, and $5,000 for each subsequent offense).
New York State Senator Patricia Fahy (D-Albany) and Assemblywoman Nily Rozic (D-New York City), who serves on the Consumer Affairs and Protection Committee, championed the FAIR News Act.
E&P spoke with Senator Fahy last week, after the legislature paused for recess. She recounted how she grew up — the daughter of immigrants, in a household that had a three-channel TV and a newspaper on the doorstep every morning. She has been a champion for press freedom and lamented how the current political climate, especially from the president of the United States, has profoundly eroded trust in media. She cited troubling statistics about the triple-digit numbers of newspapers shuttered across the state in recent years.
And she’s mindful of the harm that AI is already inflicting upon the press, recalling a conversation with an investigative journalist who’d spent more than six months producing an investigation, only to have it scraped, repackaged and republished without attribution.
She’s also seen firsthand how fallible AI is. On the day she introduced the FAIR News Act to the New York Senate, she received a link to what looked like a legitimate news source at first glance. The article proclaimed the bill had already — miraculously — passed and was destined to become law. Upon closer inspection, she found the URL and site cleverly mimicked a major newspaper brand, but delivered content entirely derived from AI.
Fahy believes the FAIR News Act will be helpful to news media publishers, who seek to distinguish themselves from the growing amount of AI-generated news “slop” or “pink-slime sites” masquerading as legitimate news sources. Fahy clarified that she is not anti-AI. She sees its promises, such as innovation for fields like healthcare.
“No one is telling you you can’t [use AI]. There’s no news repression here, no censoring. All we are saying is, we want transparency,” she said.
The FAIR News Act had sweeping support among the guilds and labor unions, which see it as a measure to preserve news media jobs. The Writers Guild of America East, SAG-AFTRA, the NewsGuild of New York and the Freelancers Union cheered its passage. In a June 8 statement put out by Senator Fahy’s office, President of the NewsGuild of New York Susan DeCarava remarked, “The NY FAIR News Act is a first legislative step towards holding media companies accountable for how they use artificial intelligence. As the union for news media professionals, the NewsGuild of New York believes that real journalism requires real human beings. … So, if media bosses want to use artificial intelligence in news gathering and analysis, then it must be under terms that are ethical, transparent and enforceable.”
“I am ecstatic over this bill,” Senator Fahy said, but she acknowledged there remains vocal opposition to it, as well.
Diane Kennedy is one of those voices. As the president for the New York News Publishers Association (NYNPA), Kennedy advocates for news publishers statewide. She spoke with E&P about the legislation — how it came about, the statehouse debate and what it could mean for news media in New York and beyond.
When a version of the bill was first introduced about three years ago, Kennedy recalled receiving a call from the State Assembly’s legal staff, who asked if she had an opinion about it. She responded with a list of Supreme Court cases about compelled speech, and the bill was blocked from coming to the Assembly floor. In the years since, she explained, the Guild and labor unions were able to build a strong coalition and lobby.
Kennedy contends that the FAIR News Act is unconstitutional and runs afoul of the First Amendment. “It enables the state’s attorney general to investigate how news stories are gathered and reported,” she told E&P.
The bill inspired opposition from other statewide associations, including The Business Council, MPA, the Information Technology Industry Council and others.
For advocates of the Act who argue that it will help deter the spread of false AI-derived information — forcing the news media to use AI responsibly and have humans in the loop — Kennedy said that the press has always been incentivized to ensure accuracy. If they publish bad information — whether AI was used or not — it harms the news brand. AI is just a tool for journalists, Kennedy stressed.
“I have a new artificial friend named Claude,” said Kennedy. “Claude helps me draft and build memos, and he’s really good. But I still have to fact-check him. AI is another tool, but you can’t have the government saying these are the tools that you should or shouldn’t use.”
The defining language of the bill may prove problematic. It requires disclosure when AI has been substantially used to compose, author or create news content. That threshold is vague, subjective and arguably difficult to fairly enforce or litigate.
New York State Senator Fahy and NYNPA’s Kennedy agreed on two things: The New York FAIR News Act isn’t a “done deal.” While it awaits Governor Hochul’s signature, lobbyists for and against will try to sway her perspective.
Fahy and Kennedy also expect the language of this bill to be blueprinted and introduced in other statehouses.
“Some of the advocates are working with people across the country. They have told us this will have national ramifications,” Senator Fahy said.
Gretchen A. Peck is E&P’s editor-in-chief. She welcomes your emails at editor@editorandpublisher.com.
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