SpaceXAI agrees to testify Friday after skipping NYC Council AI hearing
Speaker Julie Menin says the company will appear before the Technology Committee at 10 a.m. Friday, days after it missed an Oct. 5 hearing and the Council threatened to enforce its subpoena in court.
Photo: Momos / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
- SpaceXAI will testify Friday at 10 a.m. before the City Council Technology Committee, ending a subpoena standoff, amNewYork and CNBC reported.
- Council Speaker Julie Menin subpoenaed Elon Musk or another SpaceXAI representative for the Oct. 5 AI safety hearing; OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and Meta appeared, but SpaceXAI did not.
- After the Council said it would ask a state judge to enforce the subpoena, SpaceXAI sought a meeting Oct. 7 and agreed to appear, according to amNewYork.
- Menin called the company's absence from the nearly 10-hour Oct. 5 hearing "unacceptable"; Technology Committee Chair Carmen De La Rosa told CNBC the Council expects answers on privacy, safeguards and whistleblower protections.
- Musk folded xAI into SpaceX earlier this year; CNBC noted Grok is used by some federal agencies and that lawsuits over deepfake imagery are mounting.
Elon Musk's SpaceXAI will finally sit for New York City Council questions on artificial intelligence safety. Speaker Julie Menin is set to announce Tuesday that the company will testify Friday before the Committee on Technology, amNewYork reported, after weeks of refusing to appear under subpoena.
CNBC, citing the Council, said the Friday session begins at 10 a.m. Eastern. The appearance closes a standoff that began when Menin sought voluntary testimony from five major AI companies in September, then issued a Sept. 28 subpoena after SpaceXAI balked, both outlets reported.
Missed the Oct. 5 hearing
OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and Meta sent representatives to the Council's nearly 10-hour Oct. 5 hearing. SpaceXAI did not. Menin said from the dais that day the company was in "direct violation" of the subpoena and that the Council was pursuing enforcement, amNewYork reported.
Council staff later told SpaceXAI they planned to ask a state Supreme Court justice to enforce the order. The company requested a meeting on Oct. 7 and then agreed to testify, according to amNewYork. "Conspicuously absent was SpaceXAI, which is unacceptable," Menin said in Tuesday's statement quoted by CNBC.
What lawmakers want
Friday's hearing is meant to cover the same ground rivals faced: catastrophic-risk assessments, safety practices and related questions, amNewYork reported. Technology Committee Chair Carmen De La Rosa told CNBC that with Musk's technology spreading at the federal level, the Council wants "robust context about data privacy, safeguards, and whistleblower protections."
CNBC noted Musk folded his xAI venture into SpaceX earlier this year and that SpaceXAI did not respond to a request for comment. amNewYork also said it contacted the company for confirmation.
- amNewYorkElon Musk's SpaceXAI agrees to testify before City Council after subpoena standoff
- CNBCSpaceX agrees to testify to NYC Council about AI safety after receiving subpoena
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