SpaceX Agrees to Testify Before NYC Council on AI Safety Oct. 16

SpaceX will testify before the New York City Council’s technology committee at 10 a.m. ET (14:00 UTC) on Oct. 16, entering a city investigation into artificial intelligence safety risks and potential legislative action.

The appearance follows a subpoena issued Sept. 28 to Elon Musk and SpaceX’s AI unit by Council Speaker Julie Menin and General Counsel Nwamaka Ejebe. SpaceX missed an Oct. 5 hearing where representatives of Anthropic, OpenAI, Meta and Google testified.

SpaceX agreed to appear two days after the council indicated it would seek judicial enforcement of the subpoena. The proceeding is examining whether rapidly developing AI threats across areas such as security, privacy and the economy require new protections for New Yorkers.

Carmen De La Rosa, chair of the council’s technology committee, said the panel expects SpaceX to address data privacy, safeguards and whistleblower protections. The council’s subpoena warned that failing to comply could result in penalties or other punishment under New York City laws and regulations.

Musk folded xAI into SpaceX in February, creating a conglomerate that includes Grok models. Some federal agencies, including the Pentagon, use the models.

The council hearing is scheduled for Oct. 16.