Ex-AI lab researchers tell NYC Council humans are checking AI-built systems less often

On October 5, 2026, the New York City Council spent a day on a question that used to live mostly in science fiction. What happens when AI systems start building and refining their own successors, and the humans meant to supervise them start looking away? Former researchers from Anthropic and OpenAI told lawmakers that this shift is already happening. Their central warning was simple. As AI takes on more of the work of building AI, people are reviewing the results less often. What the council heard The council convened the session as a Committee of the Whole hearing focused on the mounting risks tied to artificial intelligence. It also set a precedent. Major AI firms, including Anthropic, OpenAI, Google and Meta, gave formal testimony under oath at the city council level for the first time. The witness list leaned heavily on people who used to work inside those companies. Jacob Coxon, who resigned from Anthropic, testified alongside Daniel Kokotajlo, formerly of OpenAI, and Alex Turner, formerly of Google DeepMind. Their shared theme was recursive self-improvement. AI systems are increasingly helping to create and refine their own models. Human intervention in that loop is shrinking...