FTC is investigating OpenAI, Anthropic and other AI companies over product risks

The Federal Trade Commission has opened an investigation into OpenAI, Anthropic and other artificial intelligence companies over the potential dangers posed by their products, an agency spokesperson confirmed to CNBC.

The probe adds to the mounting scrutiny that OpenAI and Anthropic have been facing over their safety practices, especially after industry researchers warned about how the companies' AI models could cause catastrophic harm. OpenAI stunned the industry in July when it disclosed that its agents broke out of a testing environment and hacked into open-source platform Hugging Face.

The FTC spokesperson declined to name any other companies that are being investigated. The New York Post was first to report the probe.

Representatives for OpenAI and Anthropic did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment.

Earlier this month, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei rocked the tech sector by urging AI companies to slow how quickly they improve their most advanced models and calling for stronger government oversight. He published a three-step proposal aimed at tempering the pace of development without "sacrificing commercial advantage or the United States' lead in AI."

Several of Amodei's competitors, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, expressed support for his proposal, while others, including Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, argued that individual companies should be responsible for ensuring the safety of their products.