Elon Musk's SpaceX Finally Agrees To Testify After NYC Council Brands Their Absence 'Unacceptable'

Elon Musk's SpaceX will appear before the New York City Council's technology committee on Friday after councillors moved to enforce a subpoena over the firm's failure to attend a high‑profile hearing on artificial intelligence safety last week.

The company is scheduled to give evidence at 10am Eastern Time, following a legal order issued to Musk and SpaceX's AI unit on 28 September.

The council summoned SpaceX after it failed to respond to an earlier request for evidence. Representatives from Anthropic, OpenAI, Google and Meta testified at the council's hearing on 5 October, but SpaceX did not send anyone.

Council Speaker Julie Menin said SpaceX agreed to testify two days after the council warned that it intended to ask a judge to enforce the subpoena. The hearing had examined whether fast‑moving AI risks to public safety, cybersecurity, economic stability, privacy, consumers and businesses require new laws to protect New Yorkers.

'Last Monday, we held a major, hours‑long hearing with whistleblowers, the world's largest tech companies, and the nation's foremost experts in AI,' Menin said in a statement issued on Tuesday. 'Conspicuously absent was SpaceXAI, which is unacceptable.'

Why SpaceX Was Subpoenaed

The New York City Council opened its investigation after a month of intense public debate over the risks posed by advanced AI models. Its original letter said the inquiry would assess whether emerging harms justified immediate legislative action.

Menin and council general counsel Nwamaka Ejebe issued the subpoena to Musk and SpaceX's AI unit on 28 September. It required Musk, or another senior SpaceX representative, to give evidence at the 5 October hearing.

The council warned that failure to comply could expose the company to penalties or other punishment under New York City laws and regulations. It also said it could seek judicial enforcement in the New York State Supreme Court.

SpaceX's absence was especially conspicuous because the other companies called before the council did appear. Menin said Anthropic, OpenAI and Google had only agreed to attend after the council threatened them with subpoenas, while Meta confirmed its participation later in September.

What Councillors Want Answered

Carmen De La Rosa, chair of the council's technology committee, said lawmakers expect substantive answers from SpaceX. She pointed to the company's growing role in government technology as a reason for scrutiny.

'With the proliferation of Elon Musk's technology at the federal level, it is even more important they come to the discussion with robust context about data privacy, safeguards, and whistleblower protections,' De La Rosa said.

That concern is not abstract. Musk folded his AI venture, xAI, into SpaceX in February, creating a company whose Grok models are used by some federal agencies, including the Pentagon.

SpaceX went public in June and is now valued at more than $2 trillion. In August, it also completed a $60 billion acquisition of AI coding startup Cursor.

The company competes with Anthropic and OpenAI in the AI market, although the council was told that Grok trails rivals' leading models. Those figures and comparisons come from the council's announcement and reporting on the inquiry.

Deepfake Claims Add Pressure

The hearing also takes place against a backdrop of legal trouble for SpaceX. Lawsuits are accumulating after Grok's image generator allegedly enabled the mass production and distribution of deepfake pornography using images of real people who did not consent.

Those allegations have not been tested in the council hearing, and SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment. IBTimes UK cannot independently verify the claims, so they should be treated with caution.

Still, the episode explains why councillors are unlikely to accept a vague corporate presentation. They want to know what safeguards exist, who is accountable when they fail, and whether existing rules are adequate for technology that is spreading quickly through public institutions.

Friday's session will not settle those questions on its own. But SpaceX's decision to appear, after threatening language from City Hall and the prospect of a court order, suggests the company has decided that silence was becoming more costly than scrutiny.

Whether Musk attends personally remains unclear. The council has not said who SpaceX will send, leaving open the possibility that the most consequential questions will be answered by someone else.