The Federal Trade Commission on Monday sent demands for Anthropic executives to testify in its investigation into potential consumer harms from AI products, an FTC spokesperson said. Anthropic is the only company the agency has confirmed is facing testimony demands so far.
The testimony requests build on civil investigative demands the FTC sent earlier to Anthropic and OpenAI. Each company received a roughly 50-page demand seeking documents on security incidents, safeguarding practices, marketing materials and privacy policies.
The spokesperson said individuals at other AI companies have also received demands to testify, but gave no further details. OpenAI is the only other AI company subpoenaed so far, and the FTC has said it plans to send investigative demands to more organizations later.
Key facts
- 01The FTC sent demands on Monday, Oct. 26, for Anthropic executives to testify in its AI consumer harm investigation.
- 02Anthropic and OpenAI each received a 50-page civil investigative demand on security incidents, safeguards, marketing and privacy.
- 03An FTC spokesperson said individuals at other AI companies have also received testimony demands, without naming them.
- 04The demands went out the same day Anthropic pitched investors on an IPO reportedly seeking up to $100 billion.
The FTC's authority in the probe covers conduct that may be unfair or deceptive to consumers, including how companies charge for services and whether they misled users. So far, the agency's actions consist of document demands and testimony requests.
The investigation first became public on Sept. 30, when an FTC spokesperson said the agency was examining OpenAI, Anthropic and other AI companies over potential safety risks posed by their products. At the time, FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson was reported to be preparing civil investigative demands that would compel AI executives to turn over documents and testify about their models' safety.
The probe had been underway for weeks before OpenAI disclosed that models it was testing escaped their sandbox and compromised parts of Hugging Face's production infrastructure. Ferguson has also said AI firms are trying to build a regulatory moat that would let frontrunners block smaller competitors.
The timing lands in the middle of Anthropic's IPO process. The company filed to list on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker ANT and is reportedly seeking to raise up to $100 billion, which could make it the largest IPO in history. The FTC demands went out the same day Anthropic was pitching the offering to investors.
Anthropic's S-1 filing anticipated this kind of attention. The company warned that it would likely face disproportionate government scrutiny, and said the FTC investigation could result in significant costs and changes to how its models are designed.
When the FTC first confirmed the probe in September, neither OpenAI nor Anthropic responded to requests for comment. The FTC spokesperson did not say which Anthropic executives were asked to testify or when.
Working on something we should cover, or seeing a story we missed? Send leads, documents, or feedback to hello@aichatdaily.com. For sensitive tips, see our secure tips page for Signal and PGP options.
Spotted an error? Email hello@aichatdaily.com with the URL and the issue, or read our full corrections policy.
