New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin is convening a hearing on artificial intelligence next week, with Google, OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta expected to appear before all 51 members of the legislative body.
The session will examine the risks posed by rapidly developing technology and a package of council proposals intended to protect New Yorkers. Menin has also issued a subpoena to SpaceXAI, the artificial intelligence company owned by Elon Musk, to compel its attendance.
“Leading experts and AI executives themselves are warning about the potentially grave risks of rapidly advancing AI, and governments have a responsibility to act,” Ms Menin said in a statement.
The proposed measures include a requirement for an AI “kill switch” and a new private right of action, which would make it easier for individuals to sue AI companies.
The hearing is expected to give the council an opportunity to question major technology firms about how such rules could work in practice. None of the companies has formally commented on the council’s package.
One person familiar with the proposals said there were early questions about how a kill switch activated in New York would affect a company’s services elsewhere in the world. Other issues included how a private right of action would interact with existing tort law and whether retaining consumers’ AI chat histories for extended periods could create drawbacks.
Google has separately called for a regulatory body to develop safety standards and audits for frontier AI models. It has also backed a framework for widely used AI models such as chatbots, alongside measures to address disruption to the economy and workforce.
The New York City hearing comes as the White House opposes AI regulation, while Mayor Zohran Mamdani has called for federal guardrails. His administration has also enacted a ban on AI in elementary schools.
Menin’s office had raised the possibility of subpoenas when seeking the companies’ attendance. The council must also consider how its proposals would fit with a separate AI regulatory framework being pursued by New York Governor Kathy Hochul.
