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.
Secondary coverage summarized in AI and Children described this as a "43-AG" coalition; the NY AG's own release states 44 other AGs and 45 jurisdictions in total, the figure used here.
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: 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
- New York Attorney General — AG James Joins Bipartisan Coalition Opposing the KIDS Act (2026-05-26)