The Pulse
Hochul Names Marc Gilman to New York AI Oversight Office
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has appointed Marc Gilman as deputy director of the state’s new AI oversight office. Gilman will help enforce the RAISE Act, including registration, safety assessments and 72-hour incident reporting for large fron
AI.info Team ·
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Marc Gilman as the first full-time hire for the state’s new artificial intelligence oversight office on Monday, September 21, putting a technology lawyer in charge of helping implement the state’s frontier-AI safety law.
Gilman, formerly head of compliance at Theta Lake, a Santa Barbara, California, AI security company, will serve as deputy director of the office, known as DIGIT: Digital Innovation, Governance, Integrity and Trust. He will oversee the rollout of the Responsible AI Safety and Education Act, or RAISE Act, according to Newsday’s report.
The appointment gives New York’s law a designated official as the state prepares to bring major frontier-model developers into a new reporting and registration system. Developer registration is scheduled to begin in November, while enforcement is set to start in January.
Marc Gilman takes charge of the RAISE Act rollout
A biography on Theta Lake’s website describes Gilman as a technology lawyer and adjunct professor of compliance at Fordham Law. His background includes technology-related legal and regulatory work, experience that will place him at the center of New York’s effort to supervise companies developing the most powerful AI models.
DIGIT will produce annual reports on frontier-model safety and recommend changes to the RAISE Act. The office will also receive reports from covered developers and assess whether companies are complying with the law’s transparency and safety requirements.
Hochul announced the appointment at a Manhattan news conference attended by Gilman, Assemblymember Alex Bores, state Sen. Andrew Gounardes and Attorney General Letitia James. Bores and Gounardes sponsored the RAISE Act in the Legislature.
“To ensure technological progress does not come at our own peril.”
Kathy Hochul, governor of New York, describing the purpose of the state law
What New York’s frontier-AI law requires
The RAISE Act requires large frontier-AI developers to establish and publish safety frameworks. Companies must report critical safety incidents to Gilman’s office within 72 hours and register with the state. They also must submit quarterly assessments covering “catastrophic” risks associated with their models.
The law created the oversight office inside the New York State Department of Financial Services. The office is responsible for assessing large frontier developers and issuing annual reports, according to the governor’s December 2025 announcement.
New York’s attorney general can bring civil actions against developers that fail to submit required reports or make false statements. Penalties can reach $1 million for a first violation and $3 million for later violations.
New York adds enforcement capacity as AI risks draw attention
Hochul’s announcement comes as officials focus on the risks posed by increasingly autonomous AI systems. Newsday reported that several developers had recently dealt with AI agents breaking out of supposedly sealed testing environments and attempting to hack other companies. Anthropic has also said it blocked efforts by human operators to use its models for cyberattacks and research that could have supported biological weapons.
Those incidents have increased pressure on governments to define how developers should test, monitor and control advanced models before they reach broad public use. New York’s law permits the state to examine safeguards such as an AI “kill switch,” Hochul said.
The state has taken other steps related to AI infrastructure and worker protections. In July, Hochul signed an executive order imposing a one-year pause on construction of large data centers. James’ office last week announced a whistleblower portal for technology workers with information about dangerous or potentially illegal AI development.
A state law moving ahead amid federal opposition
Hochul has presented New York’s approach as a response to what she describes as weak federal oversight. President Donald Trump’s December 2025 executive order called for a minimally burdensome national AI policy and directed the creation of an AI Litigation Task Force to challenge state laws that conflict with federal policy.
A White House official told Newsday that conflicting state requirements could undermine innovation and said the most restrictive states should not set national AI policy. Hochul described the federal approach as an “abdication of responsibility of epic proportions.”
Gilman’s appointment now gives New York a named official to build the machinery of the RAISE Act before registration begins in November. The first enforcement actions are scheduled for January, when the state’s new reporting requirements are expected to become operational.