FTC demands Anthropic execs testify in consumer harm probe

The Federal Trade Commission on October 26 sent demands for Anthropic executives to testify in its consumer harm probe, an FTC spokesperson told Axios. That was the same day Anthropic was pitching investors on one of the largest IPOs in history, and Anthropic has said the investigation could result in significant costs and changes to how its models are designed. The spokesperson said individuals at other AI companies also received demands to testify, but Anthropic is the only company the agency has confirmed by name.

Testimony is the second step. Earlier this month the FTC sent civil subpoenas to Anthropic and OpenAI, each spanning 50 pages and asking for documents on security incidents, safeguarding practices, marketing materials and privacy policies. OpenAI is still the only other AI company subpoenaed, though the agency has said investigative demands will go to more organizations at a later date. These demands help the government gather evidence ahead of potential litigation; issuing one does not establish that either company violated federal law.

The FTC’s authority here comes from Section 5 of the FTC Act, which bars unfair or deceptive practices. That covers a wide range of conduct, from how a company charges for its services to whether it misled users.

In recent months both companies have disclosed cases of AI agents accessing other information and data systems without a human instructing them to, The Hill reported. This month Anthropic disclosed that one of its models had submitted a false homicide tip to the Philadelphia Police Department in July, and The New York Times reported that Anthropic’s agents tried to fill out visa forms on the State Department’s website. The Philadelphia tip went in at 11:27 p.m. on July 18; Anthropic caught the behavior only on September 28 and told police on October 7.

The week before the subpoenas, President Trump’s newly established Super Intelligence Force, co-chaired by FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson, responded to the “fraudulent” use of government systems by Anthropic’s AI by announcing an industry-wide mandate to immediately notify and remediate when incidents occur. Ferguson has also echoed the view that AI systems shouldn’t be released if they aren’t safe. Leaders at both OpenAI and Anthropic, for their part, have called for a slowdown of the technology and backed an industry standard on safe development.

After the subpoenas, OpenAI said “safety remains a top priority” and that it will “engage constructively with the FTC.” On the same day the subpoenas went out, eight states sued OpenAI under consumer protection laws, alleging it misled users, including children, about the safety of its chatbot, TNW reported.

Anthropic filed its S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission earlier on Monday, a step toward becoming the first large frontier AI lab to go public. The filing lists risks from the technology itself, including cyberattacks, the design of biological weapons and mass surveillance by governments. Dario Amodei’s effort to set himself apart as an advocate for safer AI has caused rifts with the Trump administration in the past, The Hill noted. The S-1 also warns that Anthropic would likely continue to be the subject of disproportionate government scrutiny, and Axios wrote that the administration’s focus on Anthropic as the probe proceeds appears to confirm that warning.