The FTC is seeking safety, security, privacy and marketing records from OpenAI and Anthropic as it investigates potential consumer-protection violations.
The Federal Trade Commission has sent civil investigative demands to OpenAI and Anthropic, seeking records as part of an inquiry into potential consumer-protection violations, Axios reported on October 15. The agency is investigating safety incidents involving the companies’ AI systems, according to a person familiar with the matter cited by the publication.
The demands are more than 50 pages long, Axios reported. They seek documents about security incidents and safeguards, along with marketing materials and information about the companies’ privacy policies. The FTC also plans to compel senior AI executives to testify about their products. The agency may send investigative demands to other AI organizations later, the source told Axios.
Civil investigative demands are a tool the FTC uses to gather evidence before deciding whether further legal action is warranted. The inquiry concerns potential consumer-protection violations; the demands themselves do not establish that either company broke the law, and the report does not describe any findings or enforcement decision.
The inquiry adds federal scrutiny to a fast-growing set of questions about how AI companies test, release and describe their products. The agency’s focus, as reported, includes both incident response and the safeguards companies say they have in place. Its requests for marketing and privacy records also indicate that the review is not limited to technical security practices.
For AI providers, the reported scope makes documentation and internal controls central concerns: investigators are seeking materials that could show how risks were assessed, what protections were used and how product claims were communicated. For users and businesses deploying AI systems, the investigation may signal closer examination of safety representations and consumer impacts. The next steps and any conclusions remain unresolved; the FTC has not publicly announced an outcome in the reported inquiry.