Current as of 12 p.m. ET on Oct. 5. The hearing was still underway at publication, and the company executives had not yet testified in published reports.
NEW YORK — Elon Musk’s SpaceXAI did not appear at a New York City Council hearing on artificial intelligence Monday, defying a subpoena the council issued last week, Council Speaker Julie Menin said. Representatives of Anthropic, OpenAI, Google and Meta attended to testify under oath. Menin said the council would take the SpaceXAI matter to court, CNBC reported.
The hearing is a Committee of the Whole, which brings all 51 council members together. The format had not been used since 2022, according to Fortune. The council is weighing 10 bills on AI. One would bar any AI system from being sold or deployed in the city without outside validation and a human-operated shutdown switch.
Menin opened by criticizing the federal approach, pointing to the voluntary safety accord announced at the White House last week. “The idea that artificial intelligence is going to self-regulate defies all reason,” she said, according to CNBC.
Three companies agreed only under threat of subpoena
The council’s own account sets out the sequence. Between Sept. 15 and 17, Menin sent letters to five companies asking them to testify voluntarily. Meta agreed. By the council’s Sept. 25 deadline, Google and Anthropic had declined. That day Menin authorized subpoenas to all of the holdouts, to take effect at 9 a.m. on Sept. 28.
OpenAI and Google agreed to appear on Sunday, Sept. 27. Anthropic confirmed late that night, hours before the subpoena was due to be served, the council said. SpaceXAI had not answered the council’s invitation, and Menin subpoenaed it on Sept. 28. A spokesperson for Menin told Gothamist before the hearing that the company had responded to the subpoena but was not expected to send anyone.
The council cites Section 29 of the city charter, which lets it take sworn testimony on matters concerning the city, and its own Rule 7.150, which authorizes subpoenas. Its Sept. 28 release said that if SpaceXAI did not comply, the council could seek enforcement in New York State Supreme Court.
The company witnesses, according to the speaker’s office:
- Anthropic: Logan Graham, head of its Frontier Red Team
- OpenAI: Morgan Dwyer, head of policy development and operations
- Google: Alice Friend, director of AI and emerging technology policy
- Meta: Shane Cahill, director of AI policy and legislation
Officials from the city’s Office of Technology and Innovation, Cyber Command, Department of Consumer and Worker Protection and Office of Emergency Management were also expected to attend, Gothamist reported.
Former researchers from three labs testified first
The hearing opened with three former employees of AI companies who have publicly raised safety concerns, ABC7 reported: Jacob Coxon, formerly of Anthropic; Daniel Kokotajlo, formerly of OpenAI and now executive director of the AI Futures Project; and Alex Turner, formerly a research scientist at Google DeepMind. Coxon left Anthropic last month after warning that AI could outrun human oversight, Briefs reported.
Coxon told the council that on the current path it was more likely than not that humanity would lose control to AI systems, and that this could end in human extinction. He said the companies were acting with extreme recklessness given the stakes, CNBC reported.
Menin has invited insiders to come forward. “Whistleblowers are why the world learned of the potential dangers of AI, and they deserve to be protected, rewarded and heard,” she said in a statement reported by Gothamist. She asked current and former employees of the companies to provide information on the record or confidentially.
The bills would pay whistleblowers and fine each unvalidated system
Menin unveiled the package on Sept. 25. Its main provisions, as described in the council’s announcements and reported by amNY and Fortune:
- Outside validation before an AI system is marketed, sold or deployed in the city, checking data quality, bias, privacy and security, plus a required human override (“kill switch”). Businesses and validators would each face a $25,000 penalty per violation.
- A whistleblower incentive program paying individuals a share of fines recovered from AI companies that break the law. The council calls it the first in the nation. The announcement does not say how large the share would be, amNY noted.
- A private right of action, sponsored by Council Member Virginia Maloney, letting people harmed by certain malicious uses of AI sue the companies behind it.
- 24-hour reporting of AI safety incidents by city contractors and agencies, whistleblower protections for city workers and an emergency plan for AI-related disruptions.
Menin told Fortune that the per-violation fine means that “if there’s a swarm of agents, the penalty would apply per agent.”
The bills land amid competing efforts at other levels of government. Gov. Kathy Hochul has floated state-level kill switches, and state Sen. Andrew Gounardes has proposed annual independent safety reviews for large AI developers, amNY reported. In Washington, a bipartisan bill from Sens. Ted Cruz, Amy Klobuchar and Majority Leader John Thune would likely override most state AI laws, including New York’s RAISE Act, according to Fortune.
The federal approach the council is answering
The hearing follows a month of federal moves on AI. On Sept. 29, six technology leaders signed a voluntary safety accord at the White House. On Oct. 4, Trump named Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton to lead a new Super Intelligence Force, with 120 days to report on the technology’s risks.
DeClassified Now covered both: Tech Chiefs Sign Voluntary SI Safety Accord at White House and Trump Puts the Intelligence Chief in Charge of AI Policy.
What’s next: testimony from the four company representatives later Monday. Any court action to enforce the SpaceXAI subpoena would go to New York State Supreme Court.
SpaceXAI Skips NYC Council Subpoena as AI Firms Testify Under Oath
Sources
- New York City Council press release, “New York City Council Announces Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, and Meta to Publicly Testify Under Oath…” (Sept. 28, 2026). Used for: the letters, deadlines and subpoena sequence, the SpaceXAI subpoena, the charter section and council rule, court enforcement.
- CNBC, “AI researchers detail safety risks at NYC Council…” (Oct. 5, 2026, updated during the hearing). Used for: SpaceXAI’s absence and the court threat, Menin’s opening remarks, Coxon’s testimony, the company witnesses.
- Gothamist, “NYC Council hearing to put AI risks in the spotlight” (Oct. 5, 2026). Used for: the witnesses, city officials, Menin’s whistleblower statement, bill summaries.
- ABC7, “AI whistleblowers join Google, Meta, OpenAI at NYC hearing” (Oct. 5, 2026). Used for: the order of testimony, the three former researchers, the 10-bill package, the $25,000 fines.
- NBC New York, “NYC Council holding rare hearing on AI risks with top tech executives” (Oct. 5, 2026). Used for: the 11 a.m. start, the 10 bills, the SpaceXAI subpoena.
- amNY, “AI whistleblowers could get paid under new NYC Council proposal” (Sept. 2026). Used for: bill details, sponsors, penalties, state-level proposals.
- Fortune, “Washington still hasn’t passed an AI safety law. New York City… is writing its own” (Sept. 25, 2026). Used for: the last Committee of the Whole in 2022, bill details, Menin’s per-agent remark, the federal preemption bill.
- Briefs, “NYC Council Hears AI Whistleblowers and Tech Giants” (Oct. 2026). Used for: Coxon’s departure from Anthropic, Kokotajlo’s current role.
Filed under: New York City Council