ALBANY, NY (June 8, 2026) — The New York state legislature has passed a bill requiring news organizations operating in the state to disclose when published content is substantially or wholly generated by artificial intelligence, sponsors announced Monday.
The NY FAIR News Act — short for the New York Fundamental Artificial Intelligence Requirements in News Act — passed both chambers with bipartisan support and now heads to Gov. Kathy Hochul for her signature, according to a statement from bill sponsors Sen. Patricia Fahy, D-Albany, and Assemblymember Nily Rozic, D-Queens. The bill is numbered S.8451-B / A.8962-B.
The legislation requires news organizations in New York to fully disclose to the public when they use generative AI to create news content, articles or media. According to a statement from the bill’s sponsors, the act is intended to establish a “common-sense, legally sound guardrail mandating disclosure when news is not generated by a human being.”
The sponsors cited a National Broadcasters Association finding that more than 76% of Americans report being concerned about AI stealing or reproducing journalism and local news stories.
The bill drew support from a coalition that included the NYS AFL-CIO, Writers Guild of America East, SAG-AFTRA, the NewsGuild of New York, The NewsGuild-CWA, CWA District 1, Directors Guild of America, Freelancers Union and the Writers Guild of America West, along with workers at newsrooms across the state.
“Perhaps one of the industries at most risk from the use of artificial intelligence is journalism, and as a result, the public’s trust and confidence in accurate news reporting,” Fahy said in the statement. She said the bill aims to protect public trust in reporting “at a time when trust in media and reporting is at an all-time low due to attacks on the press.”
Rozic, chair of the Assembly’s Consumer Affairs and Protection Committee, said the bill’s passage “is a major victory for journalism and for the communities that depend on trusted news,” and that it would help “ensure transparency, protect workers, and preserve the value of original reporting.”
Tom Fontana, president of the Writers Guild of America East, said the union hopes Hochul “will quickly sign this bill into law to mitigate one of the risks posed by AI and place value on the vital work done every day by newsroom workers.”
Rebecca Damon, SAG-AFTRA’s chief labor policy officer and New York local executive director, said the act “builds on the wins of our Synthetic advertising law, and creates a meaningful, enforceable protection for both journalists and consumers of news media.”
Susan DeCarava, president of the NewsGuild of New York, said the act is “a first legislative step towards holding media companies accountable for how they use artificial intelligence,” adding that “real journalism requires real human beings.”
Elle Toussi, interim executive director of the Freelancers Union, said freelance journalists “have always been on the front lines of the news economy” and “deserve a level playing field that doesn’t allow corporations to replace their labor with AI away from the public eye.”
The bill awaits Hochul’s signature to become law.
This article was prepared with the assistance of AI tools under the direction and editing of Robert Cox.
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