NYC NOW - March 26, 2024: Midday News

Episode Date: March 26, 2024

A WNYC analysis of immigration court data shows that nearly half of New York City’s new migrants come from Africa, Asia, and other regions outside Latin America. Meanwhile, Central Park Zoo officials say Flaco, the beloved Eurasian eagle owl who crisscrossed Manhattan, had bird herpes and four different kinds of rat poison in his system when he died. Plus, New York City’s Office of Technology and Innovation says the Big Apple is the first place in the nation to enact a comprehensive plan for how agencies can use artificial intelligence responsibly and ethically. WNYC’s Michael Hill speaks with the Office of Technology and Innovation’s Chief Technology Officer, Matthew Fraser, to discuss their A.I action plan and its importance for ethical technology use.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Tuesday, March 26th. Here's the midday news from Michael Hill. The demographics of migrants arriving in New York City are changing. A WNYC analysis of immigration court data show, nearly half of the city's new migrants are from Africa, Asia, and other regions outside Latin America. WNMIC's Aria Sondrum has more. Central and South American migrants have long made up the majority of new cases in New York City's immigration courts.

But a dramatic shift is taking place in who's crossing the U.S.-Mexico border and winding up in the city. Experts say the change is driven by intensifying political in economic pressures and other parts of the globe. And words also spread that more asylum seekers are being granted entry into the U.S. In New York City's immigration courts, the share of African migrants with new cases increased by over 8% in the last two years, and the share of Asian migrants jumped by more than 10%. Central Park zoo officials say Flacco, the beloved Eurasian eagle owl, crisscrossing Manhattan, had buried herpes and four different kinds of rat poison coursing through his system when he died. Vets say the accommodation of disease and poison would have killed Flacco, even if he had not hit, and up. Upper West Side Building. 48 with clouds now, mostly cloudy today and 49 for a high, and then tomorrow a chance of light

rain, drizzle, and mid-50s. Stay close. There's more after the break. New York City's Office of Technology and Innovation says the City is the first place in the nation to enact a comprehensive plan for how agencies can use artificial intelligence responsibly. City developed and recently published a set of key principles and definitions to help agencies and the public understand AI. With us now to discuss what they're calling the AI Action Plan is New York City's chief technology officer, Matthew Frazier. CTO Frazier, so what are some

of the main guiding principles to how the city will use artificial intelligence? So, Michael, it's a pleasure to be here with you. And I think for us, one of the things that we're trying we we're seeking desperately to define is the areas where we should use artificial intelligence. So one of the things we want to make sure in that process is that we're respectful of people's privacy to ensure that when we collect information and we use that to make some automated decisions, that that information is only used for those purposes. The next thing is we want to make sure that whatever technology we employ actually provides a benefit to our citizens. We don't want to be in a position where we're using technology and new platforms just for the sake of using

new platforms unless it's giving a tangible benefit. So we're looking at privacy, we're looking at benefits, and also from an ethical perspective, making sure that the ways that are being used are in line with what the public expects. Do you anticipate there being any challenges to getting the plan adopted citywide? No, so I think like any change that any organization has to accept, it takes a little bit of time to work that through. So the whole focus of building the AI action plan is to create a governance framework. So we've created a steering committee and we have an advisory network. So as we shape the government strategy on how we adopt AI, we also will use industry to help us sanity check that strategy to make sure that we push in the same direction. And the good thing about

having a steering committee is that we have representation from all the key areas of the city government to make sure that when we make a decision, we're making it across the board and everyone understand the logic and reason behind why. City agencies already are using artificial intelligence. Would you give us a couple of examples of just how? Yeah, so our first major foray into the artificial intelligence space comes from the cybersecurity end. New York City, our weekly average in terms of threats that we see is around 90 billion

security events. And we use... That is correct. That is correct. That's weekly average. So we use artificial intelligence to take that 90 billion events down to less than 50 things that anyone has to look at in any given week. And we use AI to sort of automate the disruption and response to those threats. In addition to that, on the public space, we've recently launched a chatbot, our My City business chat bot that helps small businesses or anyone that's looking to start a business in New York City navigate the government's bureaucracy.

As you can imagine, there's over 70 separate agencies that could be involved in getting a business off the ground. And you have a virtual assistant that can help you get that process going very quickly. And the last thing I'll mention on that front is we also have a teaching assistant that helps students that are in school with things like math. So if you have a complicated math problem and you need assistance helping with your homework and the teacher's not available, we have a teaching assistant that's capable of helping students. So that's a couple of years where we're using AI. I know you addressed this already, but I have to ask this again. What do you say to New Yorkers who may worry about their privacy when it comes to artificial intelligence? So New York City is one of the first cities that has established an Office of Information Privacy.

And we have a chief privacy officer that focuses on keeping the city honest. So in the event that there is a breach of constituent data and, Before we put any platforms out, we have an office that's dedicated at reviewing the technology that we're using and the ways that we're using the data and making sure that we're very public and transparent about how that information is being used. And in the event that's a breach, we also are very public and transparent about notifying those that are impacted. News security.

Yes, pardon, just a few seconds left. What about any ethical risks of AI? We just have 20 seconds left. Yeah, so for the ethical risks, we're going to continue to monitor those to make sure that We're mindful, but the whole purpose of the strategy and plan is to make sure that we have guardrails in place. Our guest has been Matthew Frazier. He's New York City's chief technology officer. Thank you for coming on.

Thank you very much. Thanks for listening. This is NYC now from WNYC. Be sure to catch us every weekday, three times a day, for your top news headlines and occasional deep dives. Also subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. We'll be back this evening.