SpaceX appears before New York City Council after subpoena threat

The New York City Council has questioned a SpaceX representative about the safety of the Grok AI model. The hearing was held Friday, October 16, 2026, in the council's technology committee, after the company had initially stayed away.

First a no-show, then a subpoena

At an AI safety hearing on October 5, representatives from Anthropic, OpenAI, Google and Meta testified. SpaceXAI sent no one. Council Speaker Julie Menin called the absence unacceptable.

According to City & State New York, SpaceXAI was the only major AI company that did not respond to the council's request. The other four either appeared directly or confirmed their participation after the council threatened a subpoena.

On September 28, Menin issued a subpoena against SpaceXAI. It was the first time she had used the council's subpoena power as speaker. The council warned that it would ask a court in the state of New York to enforce the subpoena and possibly seek sanctions for civil contempt. SpaceX then announced that the company would testify. The agreement was announced on October 13.

The company's explanation

SpaceX's witness was Gabriela Castillo Madrid from the company's global government affairs team. Fox News calls her a senior manager. She said safety is central to how Grok is built.

She described the company's approach as control, prevention, mitigation, analysis and correction. According to her, the company carries out a full risk assessment of its practices and controls at least once a year.

During the hearing, Menin said SpaceXAI was trying to avoid the city's public conversation about the dangers of AI.

Claims from a former employee

Former xAI engineer Devin Kim also testified. He has a retaliation case pending. He alleges that the company launched models without adequate safeguards against biological risks, even though he had warned about it starting in January 2025. According to Kim, his supervisor responded that AI safety was useless. This is his own claim, and it has not been confirmed by SpaceX in the sources.

Committee Chair Carmen De La Rosa wanted answers from SpaceX about data protection, safeguards and protection of whistleblowers, meaning employees who raise the alarm about illegal or dangerous conditions.

Lawsuits over image generator

There are also lawsuits pending against SpaceX over Grok's image generator. They allege that it was used for mass production of deepfake pornography based on real people's images. The allegations have not been tested in court.

The council is considering ten bills to regulate the AI industry.