As President Donald Trump pushed for AI companies like OpenAI and Anthropic.
As President Donald Trump pushed AI companies like OpenAI and Anthropic to self-regulate instead of signing off on new safety regulations, a federal agency quietly investigated them for weeks.
The New York Post first reported that the Federal Trade Commission, led by Trump-designated Chairman Andrew Ferguson, launched an investigation into top AI companies over potential dangers posed by their rapidly advancing technology.
OpenAI chief of global affairs Chris Lehane said they're willing to cooperate with the investigation, but that authorities haven't contacted them.
“What we know is basically what we’ve seen publicly reported. We haven’t heard specifically what the issue is," Lehane said.
The New York Post quoted a senior FTC official who said the agency planned to compel executives to testify about product safety. It's unclear when that may occur.
Lehane noted Ferguson was present for a meeting of AI industry leaders Trump gathered at the White House earlier this week. The meeting concluded with Trump and the heads of Google, Anthropic, Meta, OpenAI, XAI and Nvidia agreeing to voluntary safety practices, like partnering with external monitors to assess AI models. The one-page document carried no legal weight. Instead, Trump called in "morally binding."
"Those safety commitments are things that OpenAI has already been working on," Lehane said.
OpenAI and Anthropic have each called for federal safety laws and for the United States to be the global leader in responsible AI practices. An overwhelming share of the public agrees: A new Quinnipiac University poll found 91% of Americans think it's important for the United States to establish AI guardrails; 73% are concerned AI could threaten human survival.
There's been a surge in momentum behind AI safety legislation led by Democrats and Republicans who have broken with the president on the issue, but lawmakers won't return to Washington until after the midterm elections. Before the Senate adjourned this week, Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., attempted to fast-track a legislative package that would create enforceable safety and security standards for advanced AI systems. He argued innovation and security are not mutually exclusive; they depend on one another.
“If we had an event where an AI tool went out and took over a hospital or took over a water system or shut down a power system, Americans already concerned about the rate of this technology change, they could shut down this innovation and that would be the worst for our country," Warner said.
On Thursday, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., introduced a bill that would hold AI operators liable for hacking incidents. Murphy said the consequences for such an incident could include prison time.
Hawley said developers of AI systems should be held accountable like any company would.
“At the end of the day, they’re a product and if you make that product in a reckless kind of way and that product causes, these AI agents cause significant harm and damage, they crash a hospital ER, they shut down a bank so that folks can’t get their money, if that happens then it’s the people who made it that should be responsible," Hawley said.
