Mamdani says feds have abdicated on AI, urges New Yorkers to push back
New York City official Zohran Mamdani and activist Ilana Glazer are urging public resistance against the rapid, unregulated rollout of AI. They argue that local governments must intervene to protect citizens from AI-driven job displacement and privacy risks.
Why it matters
The event underscores a growing grassroots movement seeking to challenge the perceived inevitability of AI integration in public life.
Two of New York’s sweethearts, Mayor Zohran Mamdani and activist and “Broad City” star Ilana Glazer, spoke about AI at Webster Hall in Manhattan on Monday night, with Glazer posing questions to the mayor about the future of AI in society.
Mamdani encouraged New Yorkers to resist the overwhelming feeling that AI is inevitably coming for their jobs, their kids’ minds, and their dignity, and to take back control instead.
His message came at a moment when the federal government is doing little to regulate AI, leaving cities to act on their own. At The People’s AI Assembly, an event hosted by the AI Now Institute , a think tank that explores the social implications of AI, Mamdani argued that the technology’s rapid rollout is not inevitable and that public officials should hold AI companies accountable.
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