SpaceXAI subpoenaed by NYC Council in sweeping AI safety investigation

New York City just pulled out a tool it rarely uses. On September 28, 2026, City Council Speaker Julie Menin issued a subpoena to SpaceXAI, the company formed from February’s merger of SpaceX and xAI, compelling it to send a representative to testify at an AI safety hearing scheduled for October 5. It was the first time Menin has exercised the council’s subpoena power since becoming speaker, and SpaceXAI earned the distinction by being the only major AI firm that simply didn’t bother responding to the council’s invitation. The hearing that nobody wanted to attend voluntarily The October 5 hearing is shaping up to be a significant moment in domestic AI governance. All 51 council members are expected to participate, alongside national experts and representatives from the biggest names in artificial intelligence. Those names include Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei. None of them volunteered eagerly. All four confirmed their attendance only after the council set a September 25 response deadline and made explicit threats that subpoenas would follow if they didn’t show up. They blinked. SpaceXAI did not. The company...