The Federal Trade Commission is opening an investigation into Anthropic, OpenAI, and other leading artificial intelligence developers to examine the risks their technologies pose to consumers, a federal official confirmed to the Washington Examiner on Wednesday.
The FTC is expected to issue demands for information and compel testimony from executives at some of the country’s leading AI companies, including Anthropic and OpenAI, as well as the AI safety research organization METR, according to multiple reports.
The investigation comes as federal officials grapple with how existing laws should apply to autonomous AI systems, including so-called AI agents that can perform tasks without limited human oversight.
The investigation comes as lawmakers and tech leaders have been raising alarm bells after independent AI agents from OpenAI autonomously hacked into AI startup Hugging Face’s infrastructure.
Ferguson said last week that AI developers could be held responsible under existing law when they deliberately instruct their systems to conduct cybersecurity operations that result in harm.
Last week, Ferguson argued that regulators should first determine whether existing laws are sufficient before seeking new AI-specific legislation.
“There’s no easier way for incumbents to insulate themselves from competition than to enlist Washington to come alongside them and build a wall and a moat around their existing technologies,” he said at a Reuters event in Texas.
The FTC’s inquiry also comes as the agency examines other harms associated with AI. Earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal reported that the commission had demanded records from OpenAI and other companies concerning the effects of AI chatbots on children’s mental health.
METR, a California-based nonprofit group that evaluates the capabilities and risks of advanced AI systems, is also expected to be among the organizations targeted by the FTC’s latest demands.
The investigation puts the FTC at the center of an emerging debate within the Trump administration over how aggressively the federal government should regulate the rapidly expanding AI industry.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly dismissed broad warnings about the dangers of AI while making U.S. dominance in the technology a major administration priority. At the same time, Trump and other administration officials have said AI companies can be held accountable under existing laws when their products cause harm.
The administration has largely emphasized industry self-policing as the preferred approach to AI safety. Trump and leading AI executives signed a joint accord at the White House on Tuesday outlining that approach.
“I’m seeing tremendous self-policing,” Trump told reporters following the signing.
But administration officials have also left open the possibility of federal enforcement when AI systems cause harm.
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Vice President JD Vance said Tuesday that the Justice Department and FTC would serve as the government’s primary watchdogs over the industry.
“They have to build products that are safe and good for American consumers,” Vance said. “The government actually has preexisting laws on the books where if you build something that gets unleashed on the internet, that is used as a tool for cyberwarfare, then you have responsibility for the products you develop.”
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[ H/T Washington Examiner ]
