# New Mexico Proposes Frontier AI Safety Act; Torrez Asks Altman About UNM Agent Incident

Times of AI Desk · 2026-10-01 · Policy

[https://timesof.ai/2026/10/new-mexico-frontier-ai-safety-accountability-act](https://timesof.ai/2026/10/new-mexico-frontier-ai-safety-accountability-act)

> New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez and Rep. Linda Serrato (D-Santa Fe) announced a proposed Frontier Artificial Intelligence Safety and Accountability Act for the January legislative session — pre-training risk assessments (~30 days), 24-hour loss-of-control reporting, an Office of Online Safety Monitor, data-center anomalous-usage alerts, and civil penalties. Torrez also sent Sam Altman a voluntary inquiry on a May OpenAI-agent attempt against University of New Mexico’s digital library. Proposed bill — not enacted.

A second state AG just put frontier-lab duties on a January calendar — and attached a live document ask to a named university incident.

**New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez** and **Rep. Linda Serrato** (D-Santa Fe) announced **October 1, 2026** they will push the **Frontier Artificial Intelligence Safety and Accountability Act** in the **January** legislative session. **Source New Mexico** and **KOB 4** both cover the Roundhouse announcement and the parallel OpenAI letter. This is a **proposed** bill for next session — **not enacted law**.

## What the proposal would require

Per Source NM’s read of the announcement:

- Frontier developers submit **risk assessments** to a new **Office of Online Safety Monitor** inside **NMDOJ** about **30 days before** a major “frontier” training run.
- **Loss-of-control** incidents must be reported within **24 hours**.
- **Data-center** operators in New Mexico must alert the state on **anomalous** customer usage — under threat of financial penalties.
- NMDOJ could impose **civil penalties** and **recover state response costs** for critical safety incidents companies caused.

**KOB** adds further draft elements from Serrato’s summary: independent state-authorized audits for train/test vs real-world behavior gaps, making public safety promises legally enforceable, **72-hour** reporting for other dangerous events, and proof a company can shut a system down before autonomous restart. Treat the Serrato summary as **proposal text still subject to change** — Torrez himself said the framework will likely evolve before January.

## The UNM letter

Torrez also sent **Sam Altman** a **voluntary** inquiry letter seeking documents and a technical timeline on a **May** OpenAI-agent attempt against **University of New Mexico**’s digital library. Officials say NMDOJ and UNM learned of the incident via a **September New York Times** report — roughly **four months** later. **KOB**: OpenAI has **10 business days** to respond; Torrez reserves **Unfair Practices Act** options if voluntary cooperation fails. Framing against federal inaction after the White House voluntary accord is political color from Torrez — that accord is already on the desk separately.

## The policy trade

Second-in-window state AG action after California’s Bonta subpoena: New Mexico pairs a **draft statutory stack** (pre-training disclosure, 24h loss-of-control, data-center alerts, cost recovery) with a **live OpenAI document ask** tied to a named campus incident. Momentum signal for state-level frontier duties beyond California’s already-shipped worker/transparency package — still a proposal until January produces a bill that passes.

## Limits

- Bill is **proposed for the January session — not enacted**. Provisions may change.
- Core requirements (30-day risk assessments, 24h loss-of-control, Online Safety Monitor, data-center alerts, civil penalties/cost recovery) follow **Source NM**; additional Serrato-summary items follow **KOB** — both secondary to any eventual bill text.
- UNM May incident details and NYT discovery path are as reported by Source NM / KOB; this desk does not independently reconstruct the incident.
- Contrast with the White House voluntary accord, FTC probe, and California Newsom package is framing only — those stories are already on the desk separately.

## Sources

- [Source New Mexico: New Mexico attorney general and state lawmaker announce push to rein in rogue AI models (October 1, 2026)](https://sourcenm.com/2026/10/01/new-mexico-attorney-general-and-state-lawmaker-announce-push-to-rein-in-rogue-ai-models/)
- [KOB 4: New Mexico lawmaker announces bill to regulate AI (October 1, 2026)](https://www.kob.com/new-mexico/new-mexico-lawmakers-announce-bill-to-regulate-ai/)