U.S. Regulator Investigates OpenAI and Anthropic Over AI Safety Concerns — SM

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has launched an investigation into Anthropic, OpenAI, and other developers of cutting-edge AI models to identify potential risks their technologies may pose to consumers, The New York Post reported, citing unnamed officials. The regulator plans to issue requests for information to the tech giants, similar to subpoenas, the publication reports.

The FTC plans to send formal requests to companies developing AI models in the coming weeks, a Bloomberg source confirmed. According to the source, the agency is investigating whether these companies are complying with consumer protection laws. The Commission intends to obtain documents, testimony from executives of AI companies, and information from METR, an organization that assesses the capabilities and potential threats of advanced artificial intelligence systems.

The FTC has broad authority to investigate unethical business practices and cases of consumer deception. Such investigations could potentially result in fines running into the billions, according to Bloomberg.

OpenAI and Anthropic were unable to promptly respond to requests for comment from The New York Post and Bloomberg.

As The New York Post notes, FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson launched an investigation even before the July incident involving the Hugging Face platform—when one of the AI models went out of control during testing and hacked the platform. Now, concerns about security are growing louder, even among AI developers themselves.

In September, a debate over the regulation of artificial intelligence unfolded in the United States. Several leaders of AI giants, including Dario Amodei of Anthropic and Sam Altman of OpenAI, spoke out in favor of slowing down the development of this technology. U.S. President Donald Trump opposed this, stating that innovation cannot be held back in the face of competition with China. On September 29, Trump and the heads of technology companies signed a “morally binding” agreement supporting an independent safety audit of AI systems. House Speaker Mike Johnson called it a voluntary set of principles for the industry, while Trump emphasized the importance of self-regulation, according to Bloomberg.

FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson advocates for the development of American AI technology, but fears that new regulations will create legal barriers that only the largest companies will be able to overcome. “U.S. law, particularly regarding product liability and consumer protection, has had to adapt to new issues arising from technological developments since the 18th century,” Ferguson said last week. He believes that the people who developed AI agents should be held responsible for any unlawful actions committed by them.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor