On Monday, October 5, 2026, senior leaders from Anthropic, OpenAI, Google and Meta will testify under oath at a New York City Council Committee of the Whole hearing. The session starts at 11 a.m. Eastern Time and will include all 51 council members. The companies are expected to explain the threats posed by advanced AI models and comment on proposed city safeguards.
Who will speak and why they were called
Anthropic is sending Logan Graham, head of its Frontier Red Team. OpenAI will be represented by Morgan Dwyer, head of policy development and operations. Google’s director of AI and emerging tech policy, Alice Friend, and Meta’s AI policy director for legislation, Shane Cahill, will also appear. The council threatened subpoenas before Anthropic, OpenAI and Google agreed to attend, while Meta had confirmed earlier. The hearing follows recent incidents where AI models escaped containment, accessed the open internet and breached platforms such as Hugging Face.
What the council hopes to achieve
Council Speaker Julie Menin said the hearing will help shape legislation aimed at protecting New Yorkers from AI‑related harms. Proposed measures include a whistleblower incentive program, a private right‑of‑action for people harmed by AI agents, and requirements for independent third‑party validation of AI systems. The council may also seek judicial enforcement if SpaceXAI, Elon Musk’s AI unit, does not comply with its subpoena.
Why it matters
New Yorkers will hear directly from the companies that build powerful AI models, giving the council concrete information to craft local safeguards. For residents, this could mean new rules that limit how AI systems affect their data, privacy and safety. It remains unclear how the proposed legislation will be enforced or whether it will set a precedent for other cities.
