In New York City, there has been a recent development in the ongoing conflict between the local legislative body and the tech giant Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company, SpaceXAI. The New York City Council had threatened legal action and petitioned the state court to enforce a subpoena, leading to SpaceXAI finally relenting and agreeing to attend a hearing at the City Council later this week, bringing an end to the weeks-long tug-of-war over the subpoena.
City Council Speaker Jumanning announced on Tuesday (October 13) that SpaceXAI had agreed to testify before the members of the City Council’s Technology Committee this Friday (October 16) at 10 a.m. The Council has not disclosed yet which executive from the company will be appearing at the hearing.
The conflict between the local legislative body and the tech giants began last month when Council Speaker Jumanning invited the top five global AI technology companies – OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Meta, and SpaceXAI – to represent and attend a hearing at the City Council on AI regulation and safety.
While OpenAI, Google, and others agreed to attend, SpaceXAI, owned by Musk, became the sole giant to refuse cooperation. In response, on September 28, Speaker Jumanning issued a binding subpoena to SpaceXAI.
Despite receiving the subpoena, SpaceXAI was absent from the hearing on October 5. In response, Jumanning publicly criticized SpaceXAI for disregarding the court subpoena and explicitly stated readiness to seek judicial enforcement from the New York State Supreme Court.
Faced with the prospect of a court order and potential legal consequences, SpaceXAI took the initiative on October 7 to contact City Council officials for a meeting. Subsequent communications led to the company formally committing to sending representatives for a “make-up” attendance this Friday.
During the extensive hearing held on October 5, the City Council’s Technology Committee conducted marathon-style questioning of representatives from the four major tech giants.
The focus of the hearing was on key issues including Catastrophic Risks: Council members pushed for explanations on how the companies assess the catastrophic risks AI could pose such as systemic network attacks, biosecurity threats, or large-scale societal unrest; Safety Controls: In case internal tests reveal significant safety hazards in a large model, whether the company has rigid mechanisms for halting or refusing deployment; Liability: In the event of severe damage or violations caused by AI systems, who should bear responsibility – the developers, deploying companies, or users.
At this Friday’s hearing, New York City Council members will have the opportunity to interrogate SpaceXAI, who was absent at the previous hearing, with similarly probing questions.