Statements
NextGen Competition Responds to Reported FTC Investigation Into OpenAI and Anthropic AI Safety Practices
On Wednesday, September 30, 2026, the New York Post first reported that the Federal Trade Commission has opened a broad investigation into the safety of artificial intelligence systems developed by OpenAI and Anthropic.
The following statement can be attributed to Sumit Sharma, Executive Director for NextGen Competition:
“The FTC should absolutely be scrutinizing whether OpenAI and Anthropic are putting consumers at risk. But we are skeptical that the announcement of this investigation the day after leading AI companies signed a set of voluntary safety safeguards at the behest of President Trump is anything more than an effort to reinforce the self-serving and flawed narrative that these companies can police themselves and that existing laws are sufficient.
That narrative should worry everyone.”
About NextGen Competition
NextGen Competition is on a mission to create a fair and competitive technology ecosystem that empowers consumers, workers, and small businesses by supporting robust enforcement of antitrust laws and policies. Our aim is to enable many independent technology companies to innovate, compete, and offer differentiated services, and to rectify the profound imbalance of power that allows the largest technology firms to unilaterally set terms and conditions for everyone, use our data, and capture our attention without meaningful constraints.