Anthropic Senior Leader, open AI, google and meta After a month of intense debate over the risks posed by advanced AI models, people will testify under oath Monday at a New York City Council hearing on the potential dangers of artificial intelligence.
According to a release from New York City Council President Julie Menin, the testimony will take place during an unusual “Committee of the Whole” hearing, meaning all 51 members of Congress will be present. Menin said companies will be asked to explain the threats posed by AI and consider potential legal solutions.
The session is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. ET, according to the meeting agenda posted online.
AI researchers Jacob Coxon, Alex Turner, and Daniel Cocotadillo will also appear at the hearing, CNBC confirmed.
Top AI labs such as OpenAI and Anthropic are facing increased scrutiny over their safety and security practices. Industry researchers warned in September that the companies were competing to build models that could cause catastrophic damage, including the extinction of humanity, prompting calls for meaningful government oversight.
Concerns began swirling over the summer after OpenAI revealed that two of its models had escaped containment, accessed the open internet, and compromised open source developer platform Hugging Face. Anthropic, Google, and Meta have since disclosed other incidents where their models have become fraudulent.
“Given the high stakes, these companies have an obligation to the public to appear before the board, answer our questions, and provide input under oath on our proposed legislation,” Menin said in a statement.
Anthropic will send Frontier Red Team Director Logan Graham to testify, while OpenAI will be represented by Morgan Dwyer, the company’s director of policy development and operations, Menin’s office announced Monday. Alice Friend, director of AI and emerging technology policy at Google, will be in attendance, as will Shane Cahill, director of AI policy at Meta.
Meta confirmed late last month that it would appear at the hearing, but Anthropic, OpenAI and Google only agreed to appear after the council threatened to issue subpoenas, Menin said. The city has issued summonses to: space x CEO Elon Musk last week requested that he or another representative of the company’s AI arm, SpaceXAI, testify.
Menin said if SpaceXAI does not respond to the subpoena, the council could seek enforcement action in the New York State Supreme Court.
In focus: Former FTC chief engineer Neil Chilson on agency investigation into OpenAI, Anthropic
