New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin and the Committee on Technology held a follow-up hearing on artificial intelligence safety Oct. 16, examining concerns about Elon Musk’s SpaceXAI after the company missed a previous council hearing and was compelled to testify through a subpoena.
The hearing featured testimony from Gabriela Castillo Madrid, SpaceXAI’s senior manager of global government affairs, and Devin Kim, a company whistleblower who alleges he was fired after raising safety concerns about Grok, the company’s AI chatbot.
Kim told the council that only three of SpaceXAI’s 200 technical employees worked on AI safety training during his time at the company. Castillo Madrid testified under oath that she was unaware of his termination and the allegations he raised.
During the hearing, Menin demonstrated that Grok could generate a sexualized image of her within seconds, questioning the effectiveness of the platform’s safeguards. Castillo Madrid said the company’s safety team could investigate the specific incident but did not directly address the images.
The hearing followed a council-wide session last week that included testimony from Anthropic, Google, Meta and OpenAI. British Member of Parliament Jess Asato also testified about her legal dispute with SpaceXAI after Grok allegedly generated explicit images and videos using her likeness without consent.
"It took a subpoena and a threat of continued legal action to compel SpaceXAI to show up and testify before New Yorkers today, and yet their testimony was simply unacceptable," Menin said. "Self-regulation is not enough."
The council is considering Intro. 504, sponsored by Deputy Speaker Dr. Nantasha Williams, which would prohibit unauthorized AI-generated depictions of elected officials. Another measure, Introduction 2605, introduced by Menin last week, would allow whistleblowers to receive a portion of fines or penalties recovered from AI companies that violate the law.
Deputy Speaker Dr. Nantasha Williams said that artificial intelligence "poses a serious threat to public trust," as they can manufacture images making public officials say or do things they never did.
The Committee on Technology plans to pursue further correspondence, legislative proposals and advocacy as it continues examining AI safety practices and potential protections for New Yorkers.
