Anthropic, OpenAI, Google and Meta execs set to testify at NYC Council hearing on AI risks

Senior leaders from Anthropic, OpenAI, Google and Meta are slated to testify under oath during a New York City Council hearing about the potential dangers of artificial intelligence on Monday, following a month of intense debate surrounding the risks posed by advanced AI models.

The testimony will take place during a rare "Council Committee of the Whole" hearing, which means that all 51 members are expected to attend, according to a release from New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin. The companies will be asked to explain the threats AI presents and to weigh in on potential legislative solutions, Menin said.

The session is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. ET, according to the agenda for the meeting posted online.

Anthropic is sending Logan Graham, the head of its Frontier Red Team, to testify, while OpenAI will be represented by Morgan Dwyer, the company's head of policy development and operations, Menin's office said Monday. Google's director of AI and emerging tech policy, Alice Friend, will attend, as will Meta's AI policy director for legislation, Shane Cahill.

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.

One researcher, Jacob Coxon, quit his job at Anthropic and set off a firestorm on social media by claiming that the company, and OpenAI, are "gambling with our lives." Coxon will be at the hearing on Monday, CNBC confirmed, as will Alex Turner, a former Google DeepMind research scientist and Daniel Kokotajlo, a former OpenAI researcher.

Concerns began swirling 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.

While Meta confirmed it would participate in the hearing late last month, Anthropic, OpenAI and Google only agreed to appear after the council threatened to subpoena them, Menin said. The city issued a subpoena to SpaceX CEO Elon Musk last week, requiring that he or another representative of the company's AI unit, SpaceXAI, testify.

Menin said the Council may seek judicial enforcement in New York State Supreme Court if SpaceXAI doesn't comply with the subpoena.

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