New York City's council convened all 51 members on Monday for a rare Committee of the Whole hearing on AI safety, with representatives from OpenAI, Google, Anthropic and Meta agreeing to testify under oath.

Council Speaker Julie Menin secured the testimony after threatening subpoenas. Google, OpenAI and Anthropic agreed only after follow-up letters warned of the council's subpoena power. Elon Musk's SpaceXAI did not respond and was formally subpoenaed, with the council saying it may seek court enforcement.

The hearing considers a package of bills unveiled on September 25. The broadest, Introduction 2602, would make it unlawful to market or deploy an AI system in the city without third-party validation, plus a kill switch to shut it down.

Other proposals cover whistleblower rewards, a private right of action for people harmed when AI safety controls are bypassed, 24-hour incident reporting for city contractors, and chatbot privacy rules. Violations could draw $25,000 penalties each.

The council says it is the first US legislative body to legally compel sworn AI safety testimony. Whether the session produces workable city rules or a jurisdictional fight with the tech industry will become clear in the weeks ahead.