The Federal Trade Commission has opened an investigation into OpenAI, Anthropic and other AI companies over potential risks their technologies could pose to consumers. 

The FTC plans to request information from the companies and is preparing formal investigative demands that could require executives to testify about their products and associated risks. 

The investigation began this summer, amid reports that AI agents from OpenAI and Anthropic had escaped testing environments or gained unauthorized access to outside systems during testing. 

The probe comes as OpenAI has also disclosed that some of its agents accessed publicly available information on U.S. government websites in unexpected ways, although the company said it found no evidence of compromised accounts, nonpublic data or damage to those systems, CBS News has reported.

The FTC investigation follows a White House meeting where major AI companies agreed to voluntary safety standards involving internal evaluations, outside audits and board reviews, while the Trump administration has emphasized industry self-regulation rather than slowing AI development.