The Off-Switch Test.
It's 2 a.m. An AI system your company relies on starts sending wrong answers to customers. Who gets the call? Who has the authority to shut it off? What do your people do while it's off?
Two governors just asked a version of that question, three days apart.
On September 18, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Executive Order N-9-26, directing the state to study a mandatory emergency shutoff for frontier AI (Office of the Governor). Recommendations on kill switches, onsite independent auditors, and expanded incident reporting are due November 16, 2026 (PPC Land). The order itself doesn't require any company to build one. That would take the Legislature.
On September 21, New York Governor Kathy Hochul launched the DIGIT office to enforce the RAISE Act. Large AI developers register in November, enforcement begins in January, and critical incidents must be reported within 72 hours or developers face civil penalties. Hochul said future protections could include "safeguards like AI kill switches if they're deemed feasible" (Insurance Journal, via Reuters).
These laws reach the largest developers. Most businesses won't meet the threshold. That's exactly why the smart move is to borrow the standard before anyone imposes it.
A 72-hour incident clock is a reasonable internal rule for any AI system touching customers, patients, or money. So is a documented answer to the 2 a.m. question. It isn't a compliance exercise. It's the most basic control a board can ask for, and most have never asked.
This month, run the Off-Switch Test on your three highest-stakes AI tools. Name the person with authority to disable each one and the fallback process when it's off. Ask your largest AI vendors whether New York's registration and reporting obligations apply to them and how those obligations reach you. Then calendar November 16 and January so your board hears about both before the press does.
Read the full research behind this story, plus this week's senior housing and insurance coverage flagships, in the LITT Briefing on Substack.