How Is This Bill Enforced
Verbatim statutory text on the left; plain-language analysis and a per-section checklist on the right. Numbered markers cross-link to the matching checklist row.
(1) 1 Nothing shall be published within a digital or physical newspaper, magazine, or periodical which was wholly or partially produced or edited through the use of artificial intelligenceArtificial intelligence"artificial intelligence" shall mean the use of machine learning technology, software, automation, and algorithms to perform tasks, to make rules and/or predictions based on existing data sets and instructions, including, but not limited to: (a) Any artificial system that performs tasks under varying and unpredictable circumstances without significant human oversight, or that can learn from experience and improve performance when exposed to data sets; (b) An artificial system developed in computer software, physical hardware, or other context that solves tasks requiring human-like perception, cognition, planning, learning, communication, or physical action; (c) An artificial system designed to think or act like a human, including cognitive architectures and neural networks; (d) A set of techniques, including machine learning, that is designed to approximate a cognitive task; and/or (e) An artificial system designed to act rationally, including an intelligent software agent or embodied robot that achieves goals using perception, planning, reasoning, learning, communicating, decision making, and acting.Gen. Bus. Law § 338(2) without significant human oversight.
Subdivision 1 imposes the bill's sole operative obligation: a blanket prohibition on publishing any content within a digital or physical newspaper, magazine, or periodical that was wholly or partially produced or edited through the use of artificial intelligence without significant human oversight. The prohibition applies regardless of whether the AI-assisted content is disclosed or labeled — this is a ban, not a transparency requirement, despite the section heading's reference to 'disclosure.'
The provision does not identify who bears the obligation (publisher, editor, platform), does not define 'significant human oversight,' and does not specify any enforcement mechanism or penalty. The breadth of the AI definition in subdivision 2 — covering virtually all software automation and algorithmic processing — combined with the undefined human-oversight standard creates substantial compliance ambiguity. Even routine spell-checking, headline optimization, or layout automation tools could fall within the literal scope.
(2) For the purposes of this section, "artificial intelligenceArtificial intelligence"artificial intelligence" shall mean the use of machine learning technology, software, automation, and algorithms to perform tasks, to make rules and/or predictions based on existing data sets and instructions, including, but not limited to: (a) Any artificial system that performs tasks under varying and unpredictable circumstances without significant human oversight, or that can learn from experience and improve performance when exposed to data sets; (b) An artificial system developed in computer software, physical hardware, or other context that solves tasks requiring human-like perception, cognition, planning, learning, communication, or physical action; (c) An artificial system designed to think or act like a human, including cognitive architectures and neural networks; (d) A set of techniques, including machine learning, that is designed to approximate a cognitive task; and/or (e) An artificial system designed to act rationally, including an intelligent software agent or embodied robot that achieves goals using perception, planning, reasoning, learning, communicating, decision making, and acting.Gen. Bus. Law § 338(2)" shall mean the use of machine learning technology, software, automation, and algorithms to perform tasks, to make rules and/or predictions based on existing data sets and instructions, including, but not limited to: (a) Any artificial system that performs tasks under varying and unpredictable circumstances without significant human oversight, or that can learn from experience and improve performance when exposed to data sets; (b) An artificial system developed in computer software, physical hardware, or other context that solves tasks requiring human-like perception, cognition, planning, learning, communication, or physical action; (c) An artificial system designed to think or act like a human, including cognitive architectures and neural networks; (d) A set of techniques, including machine learning, that is designed to approximate a cognitive task; and/or (e) An artificial system designed to act rationally, including an intelligent software agent or embodied robot that achieves goals using perception, planning, reasoning, learning, communicating, decision making, and acting.
Subdivision 2 defines artificial intelligence broadly to encompass machine learning, software automation, and algorithms that perform tasks or make predictions based on existing data. The definition enumerates five non-exclusive categories spanning systems that operate under unpredictable circumstances, systems that solve human-like cognitive tasks, systems designed to think or act like humans, machine-learning techniques approximating cognitive tasks, and rational-agent systems. The breadth of this definition — which could capture conventional automation tools like spell-checkers, grammar tools, and layout engines — is notable given that the operative provision in subdivision 1 prohibits any publication produced or edited with such technology absent significant human oversight.