Jacob Coxon, the former Anthropic researcher who sparked industry chaos by warning AI could kill all humans, is set to testify at a New York City Council hearing Monday on the new tech, according to a report.
He was appearing at the request of Council Speaker Julie Menin, who has been urging AI whistleblowers to testify as the city seeks to get more involved in regulation of the industry, Bloomberg reported.
Ex-Google DeepMind researcher Alex Turner and Daniel Kokotajlo — a former OpenAI researcher who now runs the AI Futures Project, focused on the societal impact of the emerging tech — were also scheduled to testify, a source told Bloomberg.
Reps for Anthropic, OpenAI, Google and Meta will be in the same room as some of the companies’ most outspoken critics, the report said. The tech giants are not sending their CEOs, but rather policy leads and other executives.
Last month, Coxon quit his job at Anthropic and issued a chilling warning that AI is advancing so quickly that it “could kill us all by the end of the decade,” kicking discussions about safeguards and regulations into high gear.
In an unusual move, the leaders of top AI companies responded by calling for more stringent regulations on their own product releases – warning that global cooperation is needed to prevent bots from running out of control.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei published a lengthy essay calling on rival companies to jointly slow their development of AI models, fearful of the risks that come with “recursive self-improvement,” or RSI – when bots grow smart enough to keep evolving independently.
OpenAI’s Sam Altman, SpaceX founder Elon Musk and Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates have also sounded the alarm over the risks of unregulated AI advancement.
President Trump, however, has argued that the bigger risk is allowing China to gain a lead in the AI race by slowing development in the US.
The tech giants reportedly agreed to testify at Monday’s hearing after lawmakers threatened to subpoena them to force them to attend.
Menin claimed Google, OpenAI and Anthropic changed their tune and agreed to show up only after the council sent letters threatening to use its subpoena power.
NYC policymakers and tech execs will debate a package of bills aimed at regulating AI companies in the Big Apple, including by mandating “kill switches” and offering unprecedented cash rewards for whistleblowers.
Though the industry is typically subject to state and federal regulations, New York City is trying to get more involved in the safeguarding of the new technology as it rapidly expands in the city.
It comes after New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced last month that the state will start requiring AI companies to register in a government portal starting in November, and forcing them to report critical safety incidents within 72 hours.
The City Council’s proposals include a mandate that companies cannot “market, offer for sale, or deploy” AI systems in the five boroughs without vetting the tech with outside experts.
It is also proposing a law that would require so-called “kill switches” for any AI tool being used in the city, which the council defines as a “human override that can shut down the system.”
Failure to comply with either of the laws would result in a $25,000 fine.
Another potential bill would create a “first-in-the-nation” cash reward system for whistleblowers, funded by the fines collected from bad actors.
Officials from NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration – including Samuel Levine, commissioner of the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, and Sarah Milstein from the tech office – were also set to testify at the hearing.
