N.Y. Bill Would Require Users to Swear They Won’t Use Generative AI to Produce “Offensive, Harassing, Violent, [or] Discriminatory” Speech

Below is the relevant text excerpted from S8206, sponsored by Sen. Jeremy Cooney, currently under review by the N.Y. Senate Internet and Technology Committee:

Any operator of a generative or surveillance advanced artificial intelligence system accessible to New York residents must mandate users to create an account before using the service. Prior to account creation, the operator must present users with a prominent digital or physical document that users must affirm under penalty of perjury. The document must include the following statement:

“State of New York
County of _______

I, ________ residing at ________, solemnly affirm under penalty of perjury that I have not used, am not using, do not intend to use, and will not use the services provided by this advanced artificial intelligence system in a manner that violates any of the following affirmations:

1. I will not use the platform to create or distribute content that could foreseeably cause harm to others in violation of the law;
2. I will not use the platform to facilitate, encourage, or endorse any illegal activities in violation of the law;
3. I will not use the platform to share defamatory, offensive, harassing, violent, discriminatory, or otherwise harmful content in violation of the law;
4. I will not use the platform to generate and share false content related to individuals, groups, organizations, or public interest matters with the intent to mislead the public or induce panic.”

This mandated oath requirement imposed by the government would likely infringe upon the First Amendment rights of users, as it limits the creation of constitutionally protected content and may be deemed unconstitutionally vague in certain respects:

1. Speech that could potentially cause harm to others is generally protected under the Constitution, such as the republication of political or religious speech that has incited violence in the past.
2. Speech that encourages or promotes illegal activities is typically protected by the Constitution, unless it falls within narrow exceptions for solicitation of specific criminal acts or incitement of imminent criminal conduct.
3. Many forms of offensive, violent, discriminatory, or otherwise harmful speech are constitutionally protected, and laws seeking to ban such speech may be overly broad and unconstitutional.
4. Courts have generally found that there is no blanket “harassment exception” to the First Amendment, meaning that some speech labeled as harassing may still be constitutionally protected.
5. Deliberate falsehoods about historical events, the government, or other broad topics are typically protected by the Constitution, as are certain false statements about oneself.