NYC Council subpoenas Elon Musk in AI safety probe

The New York City Council issued a subpoena on Monday, September 28, 2026, ordering Elon Musk or another representative of SpaceXAI to testify October 5 before all 51 council members, in a probe into whether artificial intelligence poses risks that "warrant immediate legislative action to protect New Yorkers."

The subpoena was sent in a letter from Julie Menin, speaker of the New York City Council, according to CNBC, which reported the letter's language directly. Menin's investigation is examining risks to public safety, cybersecurity, economic stability, privacy, consumers and businesses, the letter said. City & State New York reported this is the first time Menin has used the council's subpoena power since becoming speaker.

Musk's testimony, or that of a SpaceXAI representative, is set to occur at what the council called a rare Committee of the Whole hearing on October 5, bringing together the entire 51-member body, according to a council press release cited by CNBC. City & State reported that Menin had invited five AI companies, SpaceXAI, Google, OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta, to appear voluntarily: Meta agreed, Google and Anthropic confirmed only after the council threatened subpoenas, and OpenAI agreed as well. SpaceXAI had not responded by Monday morning, prompting the subpoena, the outlet reported. City & State did not date those exchanges.

SpaceXAI is the company Musk formed by merging SpaceX, his rocket company, with xAI, his artificial intelligence venture, in February 2026. The combined entity owns the X social platform and the Grok chatbot, went public in June, and is now valued at roughly $2 trillion, CNBC reported. Last month SpaceXAI completed a $60 billion acquisition of the coding startup Cursor, CNBC reported.

The hearing sits on top of a string of lawsuits over Grok's image generation and editing tools, which is the wider context rather than the subject of the subpoena. The City of Baltimore sued xAI in Baltimore City Circuit Court on March 24, 2026, alleging the company violated the city's consumer protection laws and engaged in deceptive trade practices by marketing Grok and X as generally safe, according to CNBC. Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott said in a statement cited by CNBC that the deepfakes produced by Grok "have traumatic, lifelong consequences for victims." The city's complaint alleges Grok was used to generate nonconsensual sexualized images of real people, including minors, and seeks the maximum statutory penalties along with an order forcing changes to X and Grok, CNBC reported. SpaceXAI did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment on that suit.

Separately, attorneys representing three teenagers in Tennessee filed a proposed class action against xAI in March 2026, alleging Grok generated images depicting them in sexualized and debasing scenarios, according to the complaint as described by CNBC. A related case, filed in January 2026 in the U.S. District Court in San Jose on behalf of what the plaintiffs allege are hundreds of victims, remains active. In that case, U.S. District Judge Casey Pitts ruled in July that the four named plaintiffs, three women and one man proceeding under pseudonyms, could continue litigating anonymously, according to the Mercury News. Pitts wrote that publicly identifying the plaintiffs could expose them to further harassment and retaliatory deepfakes, rejecting xAI's argument that anonymity would hinder its ability to locate witnesses, the outlet reported. Musk is not named as a defendant in that suit, though the complaint alleges he and xAI profited from demand for nonconsensual sexual imagery of real people, including children, according to the Mercury News.

If SpaceXAI does not comply with the council's subpoena, the council intends to seek judicial enforcement in New York State Supreme Court, and could pursue further remedies such as civil contempt sanctions, City & State reported, citing the speaker's team. For creators who rely on Grok's image and video tools, the hearing could accelerate city-level rules on AI content generation regardless of how the underlying lawsuits are resolved, though any such legislation remains conditional on what the council learns at the hearing.

The Committee of the Whole hearing is scheduled for October 5, 2026, when Musk or a SpaceXAI representative must appear alongside witnesses from Google, OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta.