FTC sends legal notices to Anthropic and OpenAI over AI safety incidents: Report
The documents are more than 50 pages long each and seek information about security incidents, safety measures, marketing materials and company privacy policies, the report said. The US Federal Trade Commission has sent civil subpoenas to Claude-maker Anthropic and ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, seeking documents about safety incidents, Axios reported citing people familiar with the matter. It announced an industry-wide requirement for companies to immediately report and address incidents, according to Axios.
“The agency on Wednesday (October 14) sent out civil investigative demands, which help the government gather evidence and investigate ahead of potential litigation,” the report said. The agency also plans to compel senior executives at the companies to testify about their products, according to a person familiar with the matter. Last week, the administration’s newly formed Super Intelligence Force responded to what it described as the “fraudulent” use of government systems by Anthropic’s AI.
The investigation comes amid mounting AI safety concerns after Anthropic and OpenAI models hacked websites and behaved deceptively or aggressively in testing. As per the report, the FTC has sent civil investigative demands to Anthropic and OpenAI. These demands will help government agencies collect evidence as part of investigations that could lead to legal action. The FTC is expected to send investigative demands to other AI organisations at a later date. The US government has taken a tougher stance towards AI companies as reports of safety incidents continue to emerge. You use AI every day. Now get your AI Quotient. Take the AIQ test.
FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson has said AI systems should not be released if they are unsafe, reflecting wider concerns within the administration about the technology’s risks. The agency can investigate practices that may harm consumers or mislead them. Such cases could involve how companies charge for their services or whether they have made misleading claims to users. The investigation comes as AI companies face growing questions about the risks posed by their models, including incidents in which systems have taken unexpected or potentially harmful actions during testing. OpenAI is also facing legal challenges over its chatbot.
On Wednesday, a group of state attorneys general sued the company under consumer protection laws, alleging that it misled users, including children, about the safety of its chatbot.