NEW YORK, August 20, 2026– Gov. Kathy Hochul opened the next phase of her administration’s response to artificial intelligence in the workplace Wednesday, launching a series of public listening sessions meant to shape how New York regulates and prepares for AI-driven job disruption. The first session zeroed in on a group state officials say is especially exposed: women working in administrative, clerical, and customer-service roles.
“I want to make sure that we in New York are prepared to manage this, especially for women in the workforce,” Hochul told attendees. “I want to hear from all of you on what you’re seeing, feeling, experiencing and how we ultimately came up with our recommendations.”
Why women, and why now
As per statistics provided by the governor’s office, women comprise 84% of New York’s administrative back-office staff positions that have traditionally acted as a reliable ladder to the middle class but are today counted among the easiest to automate. The discussions yesterday involved women whose livelihoods have been impacted by artificial intelligence technology and provided the commission with firsthand evidence to go along with labor statistics.
The initiative has been shaped in part by Hochul’s personal experiences, including her desire to prevent the same level of economic destruction that occurred when manufacturing plants vacated her hometown in Western New York several decades ago. “As New York continues to lead the nation on AI and tech innovation, I’m fighting to ensure that progress doesn’t come at the expense of working New Yorkers,” she said in a statement.
The listening forums have been organized by the FutureWorks Commission set up by Hochul, which is a 20-member committee chaired by former US Labor Secretary Thomas Perez, CEO of TIAA Thasunda Brown Duckett, and Molly Kinder of the Breakwater Initiative. The commission’s responsibilities include the study of the impact of AI on different industries, creating real-time data strategies to monitor disruption, and developing policies to safeguard both workers and small firms.
Hochul explained the tricky balance that the commission needed to strike between innovation and workers’ safety. “Does it involve making sure that the next generation is AI-competent so they can take the jobs that require some knowledge of AI?” she said. “Is it finding out other skills and the jobs that we think are being more AI-proof?”
The state legislators in attendance expressed their support of the emphasis on equity in the initiative. The state senator Jessica Ramos, D-Queens, said workers have to have a say in the development of the state’s strategy, whereas N.M. Baskin, a lawmaker, pointed out that the economic advantages that come from implementing AI technology have to go beyond big corporations and benefit low-income communities and small businesses.
Listening sessions form part of the governor’s other steps this year concerning artificial intelligence, including the executive order signed last month setting up the first statewide moratorium on data centers in the country. That order was detailed in a separate rush transcript released by the governor’s office outlining the state’s broader AI and future-of-work agenda. Moreover, New York State has launched AI training and technologies for its more than 100,000-person-strong state government workforce.
Further listening events are also scheduled for the coming months, and it would go beyond the realm of administrative personnel and encompass other employees and stakeholders, including small business owners. It is expected that the FutureWorks Commission will come up with its complete policy and private sector recommendations towards the end of 2026, and it may be the precursor to legislation in 2027.
As things stand, the initiative is still in its preliminary data collection stage, meaning that it is a pointer to the way forward, but it is not yet a completed policy framework.
