FTC readies demands that would force OpenAI and Anthropic executives to testify in a probe of whether the labs harmed consumers

by | Sep 30, 2026 | Latest E-commerce News & Updates

The FTC is drafting civil investigative demands that would force OpenAI, Anthropic, and other frontier AI labs to hand over documents and have their executives testify, according to Marisa Schultz and Josh Christenson at the New York Post. The probe covers the FTC Act’s ban on unfair or deceptive practices, the law the agency uses against companies that misrepresent their products, and a senior FTC official said executives will be questioned about the dangers the labs themselves have warned their products pose to consumers. METR, a Berkeley group that tests AI models for dangerous behavior, is expected to receive demands too, which the official said will go out in the coming weeks. The official also stressed that the FTC isn’t telling the labs to slow down, saying the US wants to stay ahead in AI and that existing law is enough to hold them accountable.

Paul Drecksler is the founder and editor of Shopifreaks, covering the most important stories in e-commerce.

Companies: OpenAI

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