At its Oct. 5, 2026, Committee of the Whole hearing at City Hall, the New York City Council hears testimony on AI risks from former Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon and representatives of Anthropic, OpenAI, Google and Meta. The hearing brings all 51 Council members together; the four company representatives testify under oath by video link.
The New York City Council hearing
Coxon testifies alongside company representatives Logan Graham of Anthropic, Morgan Dwyer of OpenAI, Alice Friend of Google and Shane Cahill of Meta. Former Google DeepMind researcher Alex Turner and former OpenAI researcher Daniel Kokotajlo also testify about AI risks.
Meta confirmed its participation earlier. Anthropic, OpenAI and Google agreed to testify after the Council threatened subpoenas.
What Jacob Coxon says about AI risk
Coxon assesses that, on the current path, humanity is more likely than not to lose control of AI systems, a development he says could end in human extinction. That is his assessment of the risk.
The Council’s proposed safeguards
The Council is considering incentives for whistleblowers, a private right of action for New Yorkers harmed by AI agents, and independent third-party validation requirements. A private right of action would allow affected New Yorkers to bring claims over harm caused by AI agents.
SpaceXAI’s absence
SpaceXAI does not appear despite a subpoena. Council Speaker Julie Menin says the Council plans to pursue the matter in court.
