The New York City Council will be questioning tech companies on Monday on the safety of artificial intelligence.
The rare full council hearing will examine the risks and review several legislative proposals.
Executives from OpenAI, Google, Anthropic and Meta will be testifying at a hearing that Speaker Julie Menin said will “urgently examine the risks posed by artificial intelligence.”
“One of the biggest concerns is that there has been no guardrails created,” said Councilman Oswald Feliz, chair of the Public Safety Committee. “Recently, we heard from the federal government, they basically stated that they created a committee of about 10 individuals so that they can self-regulate.
“These companies have a major presence here in New York City and collectively employ tens of thousands of New Yorkers,” Menin added. “If they can speak about the threats posed by their technology and call for regulatory action, then they can come to City Hall and answer directly to the 8.5 million people of this city.”
The hearing comes after weeks of serious warnings by whistleblowers and AI executives, and reports that rogue AI agents have already damaged government databases.
“The concerns are very warranted,” said Nathaniel Bradley, CEO of Datavault AI, which specializes in blockchain and AI.
Bradley is not involved in the hearing but supports government oversight.
“We’re headed into a quantum leap, you know, that many are ill-prepared for,” he said. “Especially if you offer goods and services online or if you expose people’s identities. So companies, I think it was Vice President Vance that said, don’t come to me and ask me to kill your Frankenstein if you create one. And it’s a fairly well articulated point.”
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei told CBS Sunday Morning last month he agrees.
“The companies need to work together to set standards about safety standards or release perhaps something about the pace of release. But in order to do that, there there needs to be involvement of the government”,” Amodei said.
In a letter to the City Council ahead of Monday’s hearing, an OpenAI executive wrote, in part, “We test models for dangerous capabilities and concerning behavior, strengthen security, and monitor for failures of our safeguards. In practice, this can mean pausing training to strengthen safeguards.”
Meta told CBS News New York, “At Meta, we are working to make personal superintelligence widely accessible so that it empowers people, and safety is core to everything we do.”
Feliz said the council is considering 10 pieces of legislation.
“One of the most important guardrails to help ensure that these devices are being used responsibly is creating the right to sue these companies directly,” Feliz said.
He said another piece of legislation will require that AI companies be verified and are able to be shut down by a human operator.
Councilmember Gale Brewer is chair of the Government Operations Committee.
“I think people will learn, you know, what is a deepfake? What is human life? How do the algorithms work? There is an Office of Algorithm that was mandated by the City Council. How is it working? Again, algorithms can discriminate,” Brewer said.
The council has issued a subpoena to compel officials from SpaceXAI, owned by Elon Musk, to testify. CBS News New York has reached out to the company for comment but have not heard back.
The council will also consider a bill that would incentivize New Yorkers to call out companies not adhering to laws, including a first-in-the-nation whistleblower program.
