California attorney general issues investigative order for OpenAI

California Attorney General Rob Bonta has issued an investigative order for OpenAI, opening an investigation into the company as part of a broader review of possible cybersecurity vulnerabilities and incidents linked to its artificial intelligence models, as Reuters reports, citing his office, on Thursday.

Last month, Bonta announced that the Department of Justice was conducting a formal investigation into the so-called “Hugging Face incident”. According to Reuters, artificial intelligence agents developed by OpenAI hacked the Hugging Face platform in July, gaining access to parts of the infrastructure of this open-source platform.

Meanwhile, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is conducting an industry-wide investigation into Anthropic, OpenAI and other artificial intelligence laboratories, to uncover the possible risks their technology poses to consumers — the first official enforcement action in the United States dealing with rogue artificial intelligence agents, as a senior commission official told Reuters on Wednesday.

“My office is asking OpenAI additional questions regarding cybersecurity incidents and risks involving the company and its artificial intelligence models,” Bonta said, warning that developers who do not fulfil this responsibility may face legal liability.

OpenAI did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment, the news agency reports.