The Federal Trade Commission is investigating how OpenAI, Anthropic and other artificial intelligence companies control and manage AI agents, including whether their conduct involved unfair or deceptive practices that harmed consumers. The confidential inquiry, first reported by the New York Post on September 30, is described as the first formal U.S. action focused on AI agents that may operate beyond human control. Under Chairman Andrew Ferguson, the FTC is preparing civil investigative demands and plans to seek executive testimony about risks the companies have identified in their products. The probe follows a July hacking incident involving an OpenAI AI agent on Hugging Face and could result in corrective measures, adding regulatory pressure as OpenAI and Anthropic pursue initial public offerings. Anthropic is poised to seek a listing around the U.S. midterm elections in November. Prediction-market odds of Anthropic leading AI models by the end of October 2026 previously dropped to 27.5% from 88% over 24 hours amid concern over the inquiry's competitive implications.