‘Unable to produce answers to basic questions,’ De La Rosa on SpaceXAI testimony

City Council Speaker Julie Menin and the council’s committee on technology — which Marble Hill Council member Carmen De La Rosa chairs — held a follow-up hearing Oct. 16, after Elon Musk’s company, SpaceXAI, failed to show up to testify at the Oct. 5 council hearing where representatives from Meta, Google, OpenAI and Anthropic were present.

Menin said in an Oct. 16 news release it took “a subpoena and the threat of continued legal action” to get SpaceXAI to testify, and that the testimony was “simply unacceptable.” It raised additional questions, and demonstrated the need for governments worldwide to implement AI safeguards, Menin said.

Gabriela Castillo Madrid, senior manager of global government affairs at SpaceXAI, testified. Menin told Castillo Madrid that she “created a sexualized image of herself within seconds using Grok,” and asked how that was possible given the “strict controls” Grok has in place, according to the news release. Castillo Madrid said her safety team “could look into that specific instance,” the release said. 

De La Rosa said the council provided AI companies the opportunity to build trust with New Yorkers, and they were “unable to produce answers to basic questions” regarding privacy, guardrails, whistleblower protections and risks of rogue AI operations.

“It became clear to us that they cannot self-regualte,” De La Rosa said. “The committee will continue to push conversations, with letters prepared for follow-up, and additional legislation and advocacy to rein in companies who do not believe they must answer to New Yorkers.”