“Nothing has to be”: New York mayor Zohran Mamdani tells citizens to fight back against the AI doom and gloom

Not enough is being done to regulate AI, Mamdani says

by · TechRadar

News By Benedict Collins Published 20 October 2026

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter

  • Mayor Zohran Mamdani has urged New Yorkers to push back against AI
  • He says there has been a 'complete abdication of federal law' when it comes to regulating the technology
  • Mamdani has banned AI use in some schools in New York and has banned AI from being used to generate images on property listings

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani has urged city residents to push back against the doom and gloom feelings around AI, telling them that “Nothing has to be.”

Speaking at The People’s AI Assembly, hosted by the AI Now Institute in Webster Hall, Manhattan, Mamdani noted there has been a “reckless adoption of technology without any kind of a reckoning with the limitations of that technology.”

“There’s a creep that comes with this, and there’s an intent to overwhelm that leaves people feeling as if there is simply no option,” Mamdani said.

Latest Videos FromTechRadarWatch full video here:

“Reckless adoption of technology”

Federal regulations on AI are few and far between, and are failing to keep pace with the technology, prompting widespread worry that AI will replace jobs and harm education for both New Yorkers and people around the world.

Mamdani’s comment centers around how AI technology is being relentlessly pushed into products, services, education, and elsewhere with people having very little say in how it is used.

Schools were a particular sticking point for the conversation on AI. Mamdani recently introduced a ban on AI use in elementary and middle schools after the technology began creeping its way into classrooms. Actress and activist Ilana Glazer, interviewing Mamdani, said, “It just makes me nervous. It feels so non-consensual, as though…this has to be in schools. It wasn’t two years ago. Why does it have to be in schools?”

AI is also having an impact on schools in other ways. Speaking on the reckless adoption of AI, Mamdani referenced the US military’s use of an AI targeting tool that was involved in a strike on a school in Iran earlier this year that killed over 150 people including at least 123 children. A subsequent Pentagon investigation found that overreliance on AI tools was a factor in the deadly strike.

Are you a pro? Subscribe to our newsletter

Sign up to the TechRadar Pro newsletter to get all the top news, opinion, features and guidance your business needs to succeed!

Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors