"This will be a period, like the campaign we ran and the City Hall to come, defined by transparency," Mamdani stated in a social media post shortly after winning the general election, emphasizing his commitment to open government and accountability to regular citizens."
"More than two years ago, the I-Team filed requests under New York's Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) seeking public contracts, agreements and audio files associated with former Mayor Eric Adams' use of AI voice cloning technology. NBC New York also asked for taxpayer funded contracts and agreements behind the "MyCity" chatbot, a now canceled program."
"In response to those FOIL requests, the Adams administration effectively ran out the clock - withholding the contracts and files until his mayoral term was up - by issuing a series of extension notices that blamed "the volume of requests that we have received.""
Mayor Zohran Mamdani campaigned on creating an open, accessible City Hall accountable to citizens and reiterated this commitment after winning election. However, when asked about releasing records on controversial AI programs—including voice cloning technology and a canceled chatbot—his administration became noncommittal. The I-Team had filed Freedom of Information Law requests over two years ago seeking contracts and agreements related to these programs under former Mayor Eric Adams. The Adams administration delayed release through extension notices citing request volume. The Mamdani administration now invokes the same backlog excuse, suggesting continuity in withholding public records despite campaign promises of transparency.
Read at NBC New York
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]