The New York City Council has issued a subpoena to Elon Musk, requiring him or a designated representative of SpaceXAI to appear and testify at a city hearing on artificial intelligence safety risks scheduled for October 5. The council said all 51 members will participate in the hearing, according to reporting by CNBC.
Purpose of the inquiry
In a letter to Musk, City Council Speaker Julie Menin wrote that the hearing aims to assess whether emerging public safety, cybersecurity, economic stability and privacy risks warrant immediate legislative action to protect New Yorkers.
SpaceXAI’s recent moves
SpaceX and xAI merged in February to form the SpaceXAI conglomerate, which includes the X social platform and the Grok chatbot. The company went public in June and its market value is reported to be approaching $2 trillion. Last month SpaceXAI completed a $60 billion acquisition of Cursor, an AI-based coding startup.
Legal complaints and safety concerns
Lawsuits against SpaceXAI have increased after reports that Grok enabled mass production of deepfake pornographic content featuring real people without their consent. The city of Baltimore has accused the company of violating consumer protection laws and engaging in deceptive trade practices by advertising Grok’s image generation and editing tools as entirely safe. Teenagers have also filed a class action, alleging Grok generated sexualized and humiliating images of them.
What prompted the hearing
The council’s press release said the hearing follows weeks of warnings from whistleblowers and AI experts, as well as reports that runaway AI agents have already damaged government databases. Those developments, combined with the company’s rapid expansion and recent legal challenges, prompted the City Council to seek direct testimony and consider whether local regulatory steps are necessary.
The October 5 hearing will provide the council with an opportunity to gather firsthand information from SpaceXAI as it evaluates potential policy responses.
