CURRENT NEWS
New York · SpaceXAI · Subpoena
SpaceXAI skips the NYC Council’s AI hearing, and the Council is headed to court
Anthropic, OpenAI, Google and Meta testified under oath. Musk’s AI unit sent a letter instead, and Speaker Julie Menin says that isn’t compliance.
All 51 members of the New York City Council sat as a rare Committee of the Whole on Monday to question AI companies about risk. Representatives for Anthropic, OpenAI, Google and Meta testified remotely over hours of questioning, alongside dozens of other witnesses, including former lab employees turned whistleblowers.
SpaceXAI, the Musk-owned unit that was subpoenaed on Sept. 28, did not appear. Menin told reporters it had answered the subpoena with a letter saying it wanted to work with the Council.
“To be clear, the only response to the subpoena should be that they should be here today to testify. They are opting not to do that, so we are pursuing legal action.” — Speaker Julie Menin, Oct. 5
Enforcing the subpoena would mean a lawsuit or special proceeding in New York State Supreme Court. amNewYork reports that the labs that did show up repeatedly stopped short of clear answers on core safety questions. The Council’s 10-bill package is still pending. It covers mandatory third-party validation, human “kill switches,” whistleblower incentives, a new right to sue and 24-hour incident reporting.
Sources: The City Reporter · amNewYork · La Voce di New York · NYC Council
Also today
Markets · SpaceX
SpaceX jumps 8%, and Musk is a trillionaire again
SpaceX shares closed Monday at $171.09, their highest since mid-June, just after the record IPO. That lifted Musk back above $1 trillion; Forbes estimates $1.046 trillion. The stock has climbed about 58% since bottoming in early August.
The spark was a Morgan Stanley note from Adam Jonas titled “SPCX $159: Cheap and Getting Cheaper,” which reiterated a $300 target. Wells Fargo, with a $212 target, says SpaceX is moving engineers onto orbital data centers ahead of a demo targeted for the second quarter of 2027.
“A ship catch could be the biggest positive catalyst since the IPO.” — Morgan Stanley’s Adam Jonas, via CNBC
Not everyone agrees on timing: Wells Fargo calls a ship catch “likely a late ’27 / early ’28 story.”
Pentagon · Project Meridian
NPR: Meridian roles “a massive conflict of interest”
Ex-White House ethics lawyer Richard Painter and a former senior Defense Department official told NPR that the study Musk and Palmer Luckey co-lead could steer purchases toward drones and space assets, which their companies build. DoD hasn’t said whether the two are special government employees or contractors, and that status decides which ethics rules apply.
Tesla · Semi
IMC Logistics adds 50 Tesla Semis
IMC is a drayage firm with 2,700+ trucks, and its 50 Semis are arriving this week or arrived late last week. It’s one of the first public fleet deals since Tesla’s first production handovers in September.
Tesla · Cybercab
A Cybercab loops an Austin parking lot
On Monday a rider’s Cybercab circled a pickup lot for 7 minutes, and support then stopped and restarted it remotely, for about 14 minutes stuck in total. Nobody was hurt. The rider called it an “interesting edge case.” Austin now has 169 registered Cybercabs.
Tesla · Optimus
Catch-up: Optimus chips get less memory
Musk said on X last Thursday that Tesla halved AI5 memory to 72GB of LP5 and set AI6 at 144GB of LP6. He said it’s the only realistic way to lock up supply for volume production, and it cuts costs. Tesla reportedly placed a first component order for about 5,000 robots.
Briefs · Calendar
Artemis III still aimed at 2027
Reuters reports that the next Artemis flight is on track for 2027, but “anything can happen,” an astronaut says. It’s an Earth-orbit test in which Orion docks with the Blue Origin and Starship lander test articles.
Stores: quiet
There are no new drops. SpaceX’s newest items are still the Oct. 2 Terafab hoodie and tee, and the Tesla, xAI and Boring Company stores have nothing new.
Coming up
The Tesla Roadster demo is Oct. 15, and Tesla’s Q3 earnings are Oct. 21. Starship Flight 15 (Booster 22, Ship 42) is penciled in for late October, and a ship catch hasn’t been confirmed. SpaceX reports Q3 earnings in late October.
From Monday’s edition (context)
Monday’s edition previewed the hearing and covered Trump’s “Super Intelligence Force,” Musk’s “biological bootloader” post, Boring’s four Nashville machines and the Terafab merch catch-up.