In his campaign for mayor, Zohran Mamdani described a vision for New York City government that would be less of a black box. A City Hall that would be open, accessible, and accountable to regular citizens.
Shortly after he won the general election, then Mayor-elect Mamdani doubled down on that vision.
“This will be a period, like the campaign we ran and the City Hall to come, defined by transparency,” he said in a social media post.
Fast-forward more than two months into his mayoralty, and Mamdani sounded noncommittal when asked whether he would release long-sought records about controversial artificial intelligence programs.
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 whereby citizens could ask questions about government services and hear back from an AI-powered model.
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.” An Adams spokesperson did not respond to the I-Team’s request for comment about those withheld files.
Three weeks ago, the I-Team began asking the Mamdani administration to produce the files that his predecessor did not.
But the new City Hall — like the old one — suggested the same backlog of FOIL requests is preventing their immediate release.
“Mayor Mamdani has been clear – transparency and accountability are prerequisites to a city government that truly delivers for New Yorkers,” wrote Jenna Lyles, a Mamdani spokesperson. “Based on this responsibility, this administration is working to complete the large backlog of FOILs that were inherited as quickly as possible.”
Rachael Fauss, a Senior Policy Advisor for the good government watchdog Reinvent Albany, said FOIL backlogs should not impact the production of most government contracts and agreements that show how tax dollars are spent.
“These are the public’s records and they should be released by default,” Fauss said. “This contract with the AI company, for example, is a good example of the type of record that shouldn’t be hiding in the shadows. It should be out for everybody to see.”
Fauss also questioned why recordings of Mayor Adams’ AI-altered voice would be withheld, since the recordings already went out to the public in the form of telephone robocalls.
“It was like a communication that the public was meant to hear,” said Fauss. “So why can’t you get that record? If we’ve paid for it, as taxpayers, it should be available to see or hear.”
On Friday, Mayor Mamdani ended a news conference before taking a question about his policy on transparency. When asked on a nearby sidewalk about the FOIL requests for AI-related files, he said he was unfamiliar with the matter.
“I haven’t heard of it as yet, but I will follow up on it,” Mamdani said.
Though Mamdani would not pledge to produce the contracts and recordings for the AI voice cloning, City Hall said a decision on whether to produce them would likely be made by April 9, the deadline set in the most recent FOIL extension notice.
Regarding the MyCity chatbot documents, an attorney for the city’s Office of Technology and Innovation (OTI) closed the I-Team’s FOIL request, after sending a 697-page umbrella agreement related to Microsoft IT services. But that agreement makes no specific reference to the MyCity chatbot.
Ray Legendre, an OTI spokesperson, said the original FOIL from the I-Team was interpreted as only seeking agreements between the city and Microsoft. When the I-Team clarified that it sought all agreements involving the Microsoft-powered chatbot, OTI agreed to re-open its search.
“In the spirit of good faith and greater transparency,” Legendre wrote, “OTI Legal has reopened this request and is continuing its search for additional records beyond your original request for records pertaining to Microsoft and the Chatbot.”