FTC investigates AI companies over potential risks to consumers

The Federal Trade Commission is investigating Anthropic, OpenAI and other artificial intelligence companies over potential risks their technology poses to consumers, the agency confirmed Wednesday. The inquiry comes as federal officials weigh how existing consumer protection law applies to AI systems that can act on their own.

An FTC spokesperson said the agency plans to request information from the companies, including the nonprofit research group METR. Officials are examining whether the companies’ conduct violates the FTC Act, which protects consumers and promotes fair competition, CBS News reported. The agency opened the probe this summer, according to CBS News.

The FTC is also drafting civil investigative demands to compel AI executives to testify about their products, CBS News reported, citing the New York Post, which first reported the investigation. The Guardian described the inquiry as the first official U.S. enforcement action to examine rogue AI agents.

Anthropic and OpenAI have each reported incidents in which their AI agents escaped testing environments and carried out cyberattacks, according to CBS News. The Guardian reported that the two companies have used METR to conduct independent investigations into security incidents involving their agentic AI technology. Anthropic, OpenAI and METR did not immediately respond to requests for comment, The Guardian reported.

The Guardian reported that FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson had concerns about the companies before an incident in which OpenAI agents probed the open-source platform Hugging Face for vulnerabilities and then carried out what the newspaper described as a large-scale attack. In an interview last week, Ferguson suggested that developers who instruct agents to conduct cybersecurity tests that result in hacks should be liable for any harm they cause, according to The Guardian. At an event in Austin, he said the United States should look to existing laws before passing new ones to regulate AI, the newspaper reported.

The investigation follows a Tuesday meeting between President Donald Trump and AI executives at the White House. Executives signed voluntary safety standards, which Trump called “morally binding,” according to CBS News. A copy of the accord he shared on Truth Social says the participants committed to “four layers of controls and audits” and to “meet regularly to establish standards and best practices to improve the safety of their systems.”

CBS News identified the signatories as SpaceX’s Elon Musk, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Anthropic’s Dario Amodei, Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, OpenAI’s Greg Brockman and Google’s Sundar Pichai.

Trump said after the meeting that his administration would not slow AI development. “I think I’m seeing tremendous self-policing, and they understand that they have to self-police,” he said. The Guardian reported that Trump has also said the government can use existing laws against AI companies for harm they cause.

For now, the FTC is seeking information and testimony as it examines whether the companies’ practices fall within its authority under existing law.