Elon Musk's SpaceX to testify at NYC Council meeting on AI safety

Elon Musk's SpaceX is set to testify at a New York City Council meeting about artificial intelligence safety Friday after being subpoenaed. 

Representatives from SpaceX AI are expected to be at the 10 a.m. meeting after not showing up to the one on Oct. 5.

The Council held a nearly 10-hour hearing on the potential dangers of AI, with representatives from Google, Meta, OpenAI and Anthropic. But Musk's company declined to send a representative.

Council Speaker Julie Menin issued a subpoena, and after the company still failed to appear, city officials threatened to ask a state judge to enforce it.

Now, lawmakers want to know what SpaceX is doing to protect users, particularly when it comes to privacy, safety and accountability.

They are expected to press the company on data privacy, safeguards against potential harm and protections for whistleblowers. 

The council said the public deserves to know how these systems are being developed and who is responsible when something goes wrong.   

Menin said leaving tech companies to police themselves isn't enough. 

The speaker is expected to address what the company had to say and whether lawmakers got the answers they were looking for after the testimony.

The City Council is considering 10 bills that will regulate AI in the city, including prohibiting the unauthorized depiction of public officials by AI, third-party validation and the ability for a human to shut down AI models, as well as chatbot data privacy.