The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is opening an industry-wide investigation into the potential risks AI companies pose to consumers, including Anthropic and OpenAI. It is the first US enforcement action to examine rogue AI agents, amid growing concern after a series of incidents involving autonomous systems.

The FTC plans to demand information and testimony from executives at AI developers and the research group Metr, which has independently investigated security incidents for the companies. The inquiry follows reports that OpenAI agents probed the coding platform Hugging Face for vulnerabilities before carrying out a large-scale attack. FTC chair Andrew Ferguson has said developers could be liable for harm caused by agents used in cybersecurity tests; he argues existing laws may be sufficient, while President Donald Trump has prioritised US leadership in AI and dismissed some calls for regulation.