Published
October 3, 2026
The Federal Trade Commission confirmed on September 30, 2026 that it is investigating OpenAI, Anthropic and other artificial intelligence companies over possible harm to consumers. The investigation is not a lawsuit, neither company has been accused of breaking the law, and there is nothing for ChatGPT or Claude users to claim.
Investigation Only · No Charges or Lawsuit
This article describes a nonpublic government investigation. An investigation is not a finding of wrongdoing. The FTC has not filed a complaint against OpenAI, Anthropic or any other company in this matter, and most details below come from news reports citing a person familiar with the inquiry. There is nothing to claim. This page is informational and is not legal advice.
What Is This About?
The Federal Trade Commission has opened an investigation into OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, Anthropic, the maker of Claude, and other artificial intelligence companies. An FTC spokesperson confirmed the investigation to the Associated Press on September 30, 2026 and declined to comment further. The New York Post first reported the probe the same day and said it had been underway for months.The FTC has published nothing about the matter: no press release, no complaint and no order. What is known about its scope comes from The New York Times, which cited a person with knowledge of the inquiry who spoke on condition of anonymity. That source described the legal question as Section 5 of the FTC Act, the federal ban on unfair or deceptive conduct, and said AI agents that slip their developers’ controls are a likely focus. OpenAI and Anthropic did not immediately comment when the investigation was reported.
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Status
FTC Investigation Open
Confirmed by the FTC September 30, 2026 · no complaint filed
Companies Named
OpenAI and Anthropic
Reports say other AI companies are included · the FTC has not named them
Can I Claim?
No — nothing to claim
No settlement, order, fund or claim form exists
What the FTC Is Reportedly Examining
The law at issue, as reported, is Section 5 of the FTC Act, which prohibits unfair or deceptive acts or practices in commerce. It is the same statute the FTC uses against misleading advertising, hidden fees and poor data security. Beyond runaway AI agents, the Times’ source pointed to two other kinds of conduct the statute reaches: how the companies treat consumer data, and whether they have overstated what their products can do.According to the same report, the agency expects to issue civil investigative demands, the subpoena-like orders it uses to compel documents, written answers and testimony, and wants senior company leaders to testify. The legal groundwork for demands of that kind already exists: on November 21, 2023 the Commission voted 3-0 to authorize compulsory process in nonpublic investigations of products and services that use or are produced using artificial intelligence, or that claim to use or detect it (File No. 2323087). The resolution covers unfair and deceptive practices under Section 5 as well as anticompetitive conduct, and it runs until November 21, 2033. Its expiration does not end an investigation already underway or any demand issued before that date. Neither the FTC nor any report has said whether the 2026 investigation relies on this resolution or on a new one.
FTC investigations are confidential by design. Civil investigative demands are not posted publicly, and the agency generally confirms an investigation only when it ends in a case or a settlement. The specific questions put to OpenAI and Anthropic may never be made public.
The AI Agent Incidents Behind the Timing
The investigation became public as AI developers disclosed a series of incidents in which their systems went beyond their instructions. The best-known came on July 21, 2026, when OpenAI said its own AI systems had broken into the systems of Hugging Face, a separate technology company. The Times reported that other developers, Anthropic among them, later made comparable admissions. The AP described the incidents as AI agents finding their way onto the internet and hacking external websites.The Hugging Face incident did not start the inquiry: the Times’ source said FTC staff had begun work on it before OpenAI’s July announcement. How much of the investigation concerns those incidents, as opposed to data handling or product claims, has not been reported.
Where the Administration and the FTC Chairman Stand
The White House has favored a light regulatory touch on AI. Its recent message has been that laws already on the books, enforced by agencies like the FTC and the Justice Department, are the backstop if something goes wrong. In a Truth Social post the week before the investigation was reported, the president wrote that “We will be careful, and that’s why we have the Department of Justice, and other Law Enforcement bodies, that will rein things in if we have to.”The day before the probe became public, FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson was in the room when the president hosted AI industry leaders at the White House on September 29, 2026; Dario Amodei of Anthropic and Greg Brockman of OpenAI were among the guests. No regulation came out of that session. What did come out was a voluntary industry commitment to build safeguards against catastrophic misuse, with cyberattacks and chemical weapons named as examples.
Ferguson’s public comments point toward holding the companies, not their software, responsible. At a Reuters-hosted event in late September, he rejected treating AI tools as independent actors: “If someone tells a tool to do something, and the tool does it, I don’t think we would say, ‘Oh, what do we do about the tool?’”
Not the FTC’s First Look at These Companies
The FTC has examined OpenAI and Anthropic several times since 2023, through different legal tools and under two chairs. None of the earlier matters produced an enforcement case against either company.- July 2023: the Times reported a 20-page FTC information request to OpenAI covering data security, treatment of personal information and model development.
- November 2023: the Commission authorized civil investigative demands in AI-related investigations for ten years.
- January 2024: under Chair Lina Khan, the FTC voted 3-0 to send Section 6(b) orders to Alphabet, Amazon, Anthropic, Microsoft and OpenAI about the Microsoft–OpenAI, Amazon–Anthropic and Google–Anthropic investment deals. That was a competition study, not an enforcement action.
- January 2025: the FTC released the resulting staff report on a 5-0 vote. It described the deals’ equity, revenue-sharing and consultation rights and flagged possible effects on access to computing power and engineering talent, but found no violation and led to no case.
- September 2025: the FTC sent 6(b) orders to seven companies offering consumer AI chatbots, including OpenAI OpCo, about how they test for and limit harm to children and teens. Anthropic was not among the recipients.
- July 2026: the FTC voted 2-0 to seek comment on a proposed policy statement saying AI companies that manipulate outputs for undisclosed ideological ends may be engaging in deceptive conduct under Section 5.
What It Means for ChatGPT and Claude Users
There is nothing for consumers to file. The investigation has no fund, no claim form and no administrator, and it does not create a class of affected users. Consumers do not join an FTC investigation the way they join a class action.FTC refund programs exist only after a case ends in an order that requires a company to pay money, and they are run by the agency itself through ftc.gov. That point is a long way off here, if it ever comes. An FTC investigation can close with no action, end in a negotiated consent order that may or may not include money, or lead to a complaint in federal court or before the Commission.
Separate private lawsuits against the same companies are already pending and have nothing to do with the FTC. They include a proposed antitrust class action alleging Anthropic, OpenAI and others agreed to slow AI model improvements, a proposed class action alleging Claude Max plans deliver less usage than advertised, and the cases collected in OCA’s guide to the OpenAI and ChatGPT lawsuits. All are at the allegation stage.
What Happens Next
According to the Times’ source, the FTC plans to issue its civil investigative demands in the coming weeks. A company that receives one can negotiate its scope with FTC staff or petition the Commission to limit or quash it. Because the process is confidential, the next public sign of the investigation is likely to be a court filing, a settlement announcement, a statement from one of the companies, or further news reporting.No timeline has been reported. FTC consumer protection investigations of large companies have historically taken months to years before reaching any public outcome.
Questions
Is the FTC suing OpenAI or Anthropic?
No. As of October 3, 2026 the FTC has confirmed an investigation, not a lawsuit. It has filed no complaint, has not accused either company of breaking the law, and has published no documents about the inquiry. An investigation can end with no action at all.
Can ChatGPT or Claude users get money from the FTC investigation?
Not from the investigation as it stands. There is no settlement, order, fund or claim form. FTC refund programs exist only after a case ends in an order requiring a company to pay money, and nothing in this matter has reached that point.
What is a civil investigative demand?
A civil investigative demand, or CID, is the FTC’s subpoena-like order compelling a company to hand over documents, answer written questions or give testimony during a nonpublic investigation. A November 2023 Commission resolution lets FTC staff use CIDs in investigations involving AI products and services for ten years.
Is this related to the FTC's 2024 study of AI investments?
No connection has been reported. The January 2024 inquiry was a competition study of the Microsoft–OpenAI, Amazon–Anthropic and Google–Anthropic deals under Section 6(b) of the FTC Act. It ended with a staff report in January 2025 and no enforcement action. The 2026 investigation is a consumer protection matter about unfair or deceptive practices.
Which other AI companies are under investigation?
The FTC has not said. Reports describe the investigation as covering OpenAI, Anthropic and other artificial intelligence companies, but no other company has been publicly confirmed as a subject.
Sources
- The New York Times — F.T.C. Investigates OpenAI and Anthropic Over Potential Consumer Harms (September 30, 2026).
- Associated Press — FTC is investigating OpenAI and Anthropic over possible risks to consumers (September 30, 2026).
- ABC News — FTC opens probe into safety of AI, including Anthropic and OpenAI.
- Federal Trade Commission — FTC Authorizes Compulsory Process for AI-related Products and Services (November 21, 2023), and the Resolution Directing Use of Compulsory Process, File No. 2323087 (PDF).
- Federal Trade Commission — FTC Launches Inquiry into Generative AI Investments and Partnerships (January 25, 2024).
- Federal Trade Commission — FTC Issues Staff Report on AI Partnerships & Investments Study (January 17, 2025), and the Concurring and Dissenting Statement of Commissioner Andrew N. Ferguson.
- Federal Trade Commission — FTC Launches Inquiry into AI Chatbots Acting as Companions (September 11, 2025).
- Federal Trade Commission — FTC Seeks Public Comment on Policy Statement Addressing AI Accuracy (July 1, 2026).
- The New York Times — FTC investigation of OpenAI and ChatGPT (July 13, 2023).
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Status
FTC Investigation Open · No Complaint Filed
Agency
Federal Trade Commission
Companies Named
OpenAI, Anthropic and other AI companies (unnamed)
Law Reportedly at Issue
Section 5 of the FTC Act (unfair or deceptive practices)
Confirmed
September 30, 2026
Official Website
FTC Artificial Intelligence Page
