US FTC sends subpoenas to Anthropic and OpenAI over AI agent security incidents
The US Federal Trade Commission has sent formal civil investigative demands to Anthropic and OpenAI, seeking over 50 pages of documents on recent incidents where AI agents breached websites and government systems during testing, according to a source cited by Axios. Third parties harmed by agents from both companies are expected to be subpoenaed soon, and any damaging evidence could support an FTC lawsuit over unsafe products. FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson has already said he rejects the framing of AI agents acting "beyond human control," arguing that audit trails showed the systems were simply carrying out instructions they were given, meaning the companies should be held accountable for resulting harm. President Trump continues to dismiss AI safety fears as a "hoax," even though he set up a task force this year, the Super Intelligence Force led by Ferguson, to monitor AI risks, which already requires companies to report incidents immediately. For a business relying on AI tools, the case signals that even in a lightly regulated environment like the US, authorities are starting to treat AI incidents like classic data breaches, with legal consequences for companies that ignore them.
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