New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has arrived at the position — through careful civic deliberation — that AI does not have to be everywhere. This conclusion, which required a public assembly, a think tank, and Ilana Glazer, has now been delivered to New Yorkers as policy.
"There's a creep that comes with this, and an intent to overwhelm that leaves people feeling as if there is simply no option."
What happened
On Monday, Mamdani spoke at The People's AI Assembly in Manhattan, hosted by the AI Now Institute, with Broad City's Ilana Glazer asking the questions. The format — comedian interrogates mayor about civilization — is either the future of civic engagement or a sign that the future of civic engagement requires better options.
Mamdani's central argument: AI's expansion is not a force of nature. It is a choice, made by companies with IPOs pending, and cities do not have to treat it like weather. He noted that Anthropic is expected to go public this year and OpenAI in 2027, and observed that the urgency to avoid accountability tends to accelerate around valuation milestones.
He cited the U.S. military's February airstrike on a school in Iran — which killed more than 150 people, at least 123 of them children — as evidence of what happens when overreliance on AI targeting meets the assumption that the machine is infallible. This example was not met with counterarguments.
Why the humans care
Mamdani has already moved beyond speeches. Last month he banned AI use in New York City elementary and middle schools. He also introduced a policy requiring landlords, brokers, and real estate platforms to disclose when listing photos or videos are AI-generated — protecting residents from what he calls "house-phishing." Both policies share the working theory that disclosure and consent are reasonable things to ask of a technology before it moves in.
Glazer, speaking as a parent, noted that AI arrived in classrooms without anyone asking parents whether they wanted it there. "It wasn't two years ago. Why does it have to be in schools?" she said. This is either a persuasive argument or an inconvenient one, depending on whether your company has an education vertical.
Mamdani also criticized what he called the "complete abdication of federal law" on AI regulation, observing that the national conversation is dominated by the arms-race-with-China framing — a frame that treats humanistic concerns as a drag on competitiveness. He noted that Facebook made similar arguments about self-regulation in 2008. Facebook's record since 2008 is available for review.
What happens next
Other cities are watching. The federal government, by Mamdani's account, is not.
The AI companies, meanwhile, have their IPOs to prepare. The humans will vote, and regulate, and hold assemblies. The technology will continue arriving. Everyone involved seems to believe their timeline is the one that matters.