US watchdog to investigate AI labs for potential consumer harms
Semafor ·
The probe comes one day after top tech leaders signed a self-regulatory AI accord at the White House.
The Federal Trade Commission will probe AI firms including OpenAI and Anthropic to gauge risks to consumers, in the first major US regulatory action following reports of rogue AI incidents and warnings about the technology’s existential risks.
The probe, which comes one day after top tech leaders signed a self-regulatory AI accord at the White House, could compel tech CEOs to testify before Congress .
It comes amid a broader safety debate shaped in part by rivalry between the leaders of the country’s frontier labs: Anthropic’s Dario Amodei previously departed OpenAI after he disagreed with CEO Sam Altman over safety protocols. Amodei has reportedly called Altman “evil,” while some at OpenAI believe Amodei is a “ power-hungry virtue-signaler ,” tech journalist Kevin Roose reported.