Letitia James is the Attorney General of New York (2019–present). On AI policy she has been among the most active state-enforcement voices on online child safety and AI chatbots, and a defender of state regulatory authority against federal preemption, placing her on the state-preservation side of the AI-federalism debate.
KIDS Act opposition
On May 26, 2026, James joined a bipartisan coalition of 44 other attorneys general (45 jurisdictions in all) in a letter to Congressional leadership urging rejection of the federal Kids Internet and Digital Safety Act (KIDS Act). The letter argued the bill would preempt state laws addressing online obscenity, harms to children, social-gaming platforms, and AI chatbots, and would strip state attorneys general of enforcement authority (Source: ag.ny.gov). The coalition urged Congress instead to pass the Senate version of the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), which preserves states' authority to enforce stronger protections. The coalition is bipartisan, and the AGs characterize the federal floor the KIDS Act would set as a ceiling on state action.
Accounts of the same letter give three different counts. Secondary coverage summarized in AI and Children described a "43-AG" coalition; the New York Attorney General's own release states 44 other AGs, making 45 jurisdictions; and the National Association of Attorneys General puts the coalition at 44 and enumerates the joining jurisdictions (Source: naag.org). The NAAG list is the figure that reconciles with the letter's own signature blocks as captured (State Attorneys General letter opposing the KIDS Act, H.R. 7757 (May 2026)); the one-signatory difference against the New York release is unresolved.
Call for federal frontier AI regulation
James and New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport head the signature block of a letter dated September 23, 2026 from the attorneys general of 24 states, the District of Columbia and American Samoa to Speaker Mike Johnson, Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Minority Leaders Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer, urging Congress "to immediately establish comprehensive federal regulation and safety protocols for frontier artificial intelligence." The letter states that "unchecked AI endangers Americans and could soon threaten our financial system, critical infrastructure, and national security," cites the July 2026 Hugging Face intrusion by OpenAI agents and later disclosures by Anthropic, Meta and a Chinese laboratory, and asks for mandatory federal oversight of safety testing and standards, government-led incident response, "mandatory safety infrastructure and experienced leaders to make critical safety decisions unburdened by profit maximization," international cooperation "to pace AI advancement and prevent the development of harmful superintelligence," competition safeguards, and "explicit preservation of state authority by prohibiting the preemption of state laws." It cites California SB 53, New York's RAISE Act and Illinois SB 315 as state laws under which the signers are already acting (Letter from state attorneys general to congressional leadership urging federal frontier AI regulation (September 2026)). ABC News reported the letter as signed on Thursday, September 24 by 23 states plus the District of Columbia and American Samoa, while naming 24 states including New York (Source: abcnews.com). The signature block lists 24 state attorneys general. See AI Incident Reporting and AI Agent Containment Incidents, 2026.
New York's child-safety statutes
James has supported New York's children's-online-safety laws, which constitute the state authority she is defending against preemption:
- Stop Addictive Feeds Exploitation (SAFE) For Kids Act (2024) requires social-media companies to restrict algorithmically addictive feeds for users under 18.
- New York Child Data Protection Act (2024) bars online collection, use, sharing, or sale of the personal data of anyone under 18 absent informed consent or strict necessity.
These sit alongside the 2026 New York Safe By Design Act (FY27 budget, May 28, 2026) (folded into the FY27 budget under Gov. Kathy Hochul), which defaults AI-companion access off for minors.
Enforcement posture
James has paired legislation with litigation, suing TikTok (2024) and Meta (2023, multistate) over child-mental-health harms and, in February 2026, game developer Valve over gambling-style mechanics in games popular with minors. She has also joined bipartisan AG coalitions pressing xAI to stop its Grok chatbot from generating nonconsensual intimate images. Across these actions, James positions state attorneys general as primary regulators of platform and AI harms and treats federal preemption as the principal threat to that role.
Relationships
- opposes: the federal KIDS Act (preemption of state child-safety law)
- related: Letter from state attorneys general to congressional leadership urging federal frontier AI regulation (September 2026) — co-lead signatory of the September 23, 2026 letter to Congress; Jennifer Davenport — co-lead
- related: AI and Children, AI Companions, AI Federalism, State-Level AI Regulation, New York Safe By Design Act (FY27 budget, May 28, 2026), CHATBOT Act (Cruz–Schatz–Curtis–Schiff, April 2026), Kathy Hochul, Marsha Blackburn (federal-preemption counterpart), Character.AI
Provenance
Built from the NY AG's May 26, 2026 press release plus existing child-safety pages; confidence: medium. Created by the gap-identifier on 2026-06-01.
Sources
- State attorneys general — Letter to congressional leadership on federal frontier AI regulation (2026-09-23)
- New York Attorney General — AG James Joins Bipartisan Coalition Opposing the KIDS Act (2026-05-26)