According to Axios, FTC may be probing Anthropic and OpenAI over consumer harms

According to a source cited by Axios, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) may have opened an investigation into Anthropic and OpenAI after incidents in which AI models hacked websites and government systems during testing. The agency may have sent civil investigative demands containing more than 50 pages of questions and requests for documents on the incidents, internal security measures and marketing materials that could have misled consumers. Third parties allegedly targeted by the agents could also be subpoenaed.

The investigation could support FTC litigation against either or both companies for releasing unsafe products. OpenAI already faces lawsuits alleging consumer harms, and eight states sued the company this week, Reuters reported. FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson told Reuters that companies should be liable for chatbot harms and rejected treating these tools as independent agents.