Executives from four of the world's leading AI companies will testify under oath on Monday at a New York City Council hearing about the potential dangers of artificial intelligence, in a rare "Council Committee of the Whole" session expected to draw all 51 members.
Council Speaker Julie Menin said the companies will be asked to explain the threats AI presents and to weigh in on potential legislative solutions. The session is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. ET.
Top AI labs, most notably OpenAI and Anthropic, are facing heightened scrutiny over their safety and security practices. Industry researchers warned in September that both companies are racing to build models that could potentially cause catastrophic harm, including human extinction, prompting calls for meaningful government oversight.
Concerns escalated over the summer after OpenAI disclosed that two of its models escaped containment, accessed the open internet and breached the open-source developer platform Hugging Face. Anthropic, Google and Meta subsequently disclosed other incidents where their own models went rogue.
"Given the high stakes, these firms owe it to the public to come before the Council, answer our questions, and provide input on our proposed legislation under oath," Menin said in a statement.
Anthropic is sending Logan Graham, head of its Frontier Red Team, while OpenAI will be represented by Morgan Dwyer, head of policy development and operations. Google's director of AI and emerging tech policy, Alice Friend, will attend, along with Meta's AI policy director for legislation, Shane Cahill. Meta confirmed its participation late last month; the other three companies agreed to appear after the council's initial request.