Reuters: US FTC opens an industry-wide probe into frontier AI labs over consumer risks from agents

What changed

Reuters reported on September 30 that the US Federal Trade Commission has opened an industry-wide investigation involving Anthropic, OpenAI, METR and other AI labs. The agency plans formal information demands and may compel executive testimony, focusing on potential consumer risks from agentic systems. The probe is an information-gathering and enforcement review, not a finding that the companies have violated the law or caused specific harm.