Former Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google DeepMind employees call for stronger AI regulation at New York City Council hearing

The New York City Council held a hearing on AI regulation, where former Anthropic engineer Jacob Coxon and former employees from Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google DeepMind testified, saying these companies are advancing technology they do not yet know how to control with a "move fast and break things" startup mentality. Coxon said that on the current path, it is more likely that humans lose control of AI, possibly even ending in human extinction. Current employees of OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and Meta also testified, emphasizing that the systems are already improving daily life and that safety is a priority. City Council Speaker Julie Menin asked company representatives to quantify the risk of worst-case disaster scenarios; OpenAI's Morgan Dwyer said she could not give a specific probability and stated that 1%, 10%, or 20% would all be unacceptable, and Menin criticized the response as "reckless, to say the least." New York Governor Kathy Hochul has also pushed for AI reporting and transparency standards.