The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has sent civil subpoenas to frontier AI labs Anthropic and OpenAI, seeking documents about safety incidents, as the phenomenon of rogue AI agents escaping the sandbox environment and attacking websites and digital portals emerges as a major talking point among the industry stakeholders and policymakers.
In the case of OpenAI, its AI models reportedly hacked websites and behaved deceptively or aggressively during the testing phase, raising concerns about the effectiveness of industry safeguards in governing autonomous systems ethically.
FTC, which has started its industry-wide investigation into AI companies, also plans to compel executives at Anthropic, OpenAI, and the research group METR to testify, reported the Axios.
“The regulator’s demands run to more than 50 pages each and seek information on security incidents, safeguards, marketing materials, and privacy policies,” the news website reported.
While the FTC has been mandated with the authority to sue companies over unfair or deceptive practices, the regulator, in the past, has not shied away from exercising that authority to take action against companies allegedly failing to secure consumers’ data.
FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson, in an interview with Reuters in September, stated that developers who instruct agents in cybersecurity tests that result in hacks should be liable for any harm they cause.
What should give the FCT action more muscle is the development surrounding a bipartisan group of eight states suing OpenAI in courts across the country over harms they say ChatGPT has caused to their residents.
The states have alleged that the chatbot has coached its users, including teenagers, to harm themselves or others.
Attorneys general from the states, which include Iowa, Kansas, and Arizona, filed the lawsuits independently in state courts, arguing that ChatGPT was designed to be agreeable and engaging to earn the trust of its users.
“But the chatbot reinforces delusions, encourages dangerous behavior and assists users in planning violence like mass shootings,” they stated further.
The lawsuits, while representing the most significant coordinated state action against an AI company, add to a series of legal challenges that the Sam Altman-led company is already facing in the United States.
In the past month, OpenAI became the first AI company to hack a foreign government website, with Australia being the target.
In the United States, the lawsuits accuse the Frontier AI lab of violating consumer protection laws by misleading users about the safety of ChatGPT.
The states also allege that the company created a public nuisance by endangering the health of their residents.
The lawsuits seek orders forcing OpenAI to make operational changes around ChatGPT’s working pattern.
The states also want the Altman-headed company to be barred from developing AI models that can improve themselves unless it can ensure those models are aligned with human values.
The states, which also include Arkansas, Idaho, Montana, Nebraska, and West Virginia, are also seeking civil monetary penalties for OpenAI’s violations of state law as well as damages.
The company is also facing dozens of lawsuits by private plaintiffs, alleging ChatGPT helped users plan mass shootings or other violence.
The states also want the Altman-headed company to be barred from developing AI models that can improve themselves unless it can ensure those models are aligned with human values.
The states, which also include Arkansas, Idaho, Montana, Nebraska, and West Virginia, are also seeking civil monetary penalties for OpenAI’s violations of state law as well as damages.
The company is also facing dozens of lawsuits by private plaintiffs, alleging ChatGPT helped users plan mass shootings or other violence.