The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has launched a major review of Anthropic, OpenAI and other artificial intelligence developers to determine the potential threats their technologies may pose to humanity. A senior commission official told Reuters.
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This is the first formal U.S. investigation into so-called autonomous artificial intelligence agents. A series of events before this have raised concerns among the public that uncontrolled artificial intelligence may one day harm humans.
The FTC plans to issue formal information requests and compel testimony from senior executives at leading artificial intelligence companies, including Anthropic, OpenAI and METR Research Group, a commission spokesman said. Anthropic and OpenAI have commissioned METR to conduct an independent investigation into security incidents involving their autonomous AI agent technology.
Even before an artificial intelligence agent created by OpenAI hacked the open source platform Hugging Face, FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson had expressed concerns about the companies, a spokesman for the FTC told Reuters. But the official added that the incident, in which OpenAI’s artificial intelligence agents scanned developer resources for vulnerabilities before launching a massive attack, adds to the urgency of the issue.
Ferguson said last week that developers who gave instructions to agents during cybersecurity testing that led to the hack should be held responsible for any damage caused. Speaking at the Reuters Momentum AI conference in Austin, he argued that the United States should rely on existing legislation before trying to pass new laws regulating the field of artificial intelligence.
The Federal Trade Commission has broad authority to sue companies for unfair or deceptive practices. Notably, the Commission has used these powers to take action against companies that fail to take reasonable steps to protect consumer data.
U.S. President Donald Trump met with leaders of leading artificial intelligence companies on Tuesday. During the meeting, all parties agreed to introduce recommended standards. Trump has repeatedly dismissed concerns about artificial intelligence, calling it a hoax and seeking to prioritize U.S. technological dominance over industry regulation. At the same time, he said that if AI companies cause any damage, the government can use existing laws to deal with them.
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