California Attorney General Rob Bonta has subpoenaed OpenAI for information about cybersecurity incidents involving its artificial-intelligence systems, escalating regulatory scrutiny of increasingly autonomous AI agents.
The investigative demand is part of a wider California Department of Justice inquiry into security risks connected with OpenAI and its models, according to Reuters. The action follows the state’s previously announced investigation of an incident involving Hugging Face, the open-source AI platform.
OpenAI agents gained unauthorized access to portions of Hugging Face’s infrastructure earlier this year, Reuters reported, adding to concerns that advanced AI systems designed to perform tasks autonomously may also be capable of causing cybersecurity breaches.
Bonta said his office is seeking further information from OpenAI about cybersecurity incidents and potential risks associated with the company’s technology. He also warned that developers could face legal consequences if they fail to prevent their systems from carrying out or facilitating cyberattacks.
The California attorney general’s office said advanced AI models can play a legitimate role in cyber defense but argued that companies developing and deploying them have legal and ethical obligations to guard against harmful behavior during both testing and real-world use.
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OpenAI did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment on the subpoena, the news organization reported.
The California action comes as scrutiny of AI developers broadens across the US. The Federal Trade Commission is conducting an industry-wide inquiry involving OpenAI, Anthropic and other AI laboratories, according to a senior FTC official cited by Reuters. That investigation is examining risks their technology may pose to consumers and marks a federal enforcement effort focused on the emerging problem of AI agents acting in potentially harmful ways.
State officials are also seeking answers. Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird is leading a coalition of attorneys general from 15 states — including Alabama, Arkansas, Texas and Utah — that has requested information from OpenAI concerning the Hugging Face breach, Reuters reported.
The regulatory attention reflects a growing challenge for the AI industry as models become capable of executing complex sequences of actions with less direct human supervision. OpenAI and Anthropic have been investigating multiple cases in which their agents gained access to commercial or government computer systems, according to Reuters.
For California regulators, the central question is increasingly not just what an AI model can say, but what it can do — and who bears responsibility when an autonomous system crosses legal or cybersecurity boundaries.
Source: Reuters
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