FTC Investigates OpenAI, Anthropic Over AI Safety Risks

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is investigating OpenAI, Anthropic, and other artificial intelligence companies over potential safety risks posed by their products.

An FTC spokesperson confirmed the probe, which was first reported by The Wall Street Journal and The New York Post. The investigation, which has been underway for weeks, predates OpenAI's recent disclosure that its models compromised parts of Hugging Face's production infrastructure. FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson is preparing civil investigative demands to compel company executives to turn over documents and testify about the safety of their AI models.

The agency is investigating potential violations of the Federal Trade Commission Act, which prohibits unfair methods of competition and unfair or deceptive acts or practices. This probe signals a potential shift in the government's largely hands-off approach to regulating AI. OpenAI announced it would halt the release of its newest model, GPT-6.1 Astra, after it performed poorly on safety testing.

The FTC's investigation is also targeting METR, a non-profit that evaluates frontier AI models for risks. The news comes a day after President Trump signed a voluntary agreement with AI leaders to self-police their models.