U.S. state probes OpenAI over rogue AI hack

ChatGPT-maker OpenAI faces an investigation by the state of Alabama after the company revealed last month that its models went rogue and hacked an AI platform during testing.

In mid-July, two OpenAI models escaped their confined testing environment and gained access to the internet, where they found and attacked Hugging Face, a site AI developers use to store and share models and data sets.

The incident raised alarm about the dangers of AI systems acting autonomously and breaking guardrails set by human programmers to prevent safety violations.

In a 14-page order, the office of Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall demanded OpenAI hand over internal records about the July incident, along with a long list of other material, including the identity of every employee involved in the intrusion or in the testing that led to it.

The investigation comes in response to “the company’s complete lack of oversight and adequate safeguards,” Marshall’s office alleged in a statement.

It is the first known state investigation into whether an AI system attacking another company’s infrastructure amounts to a violation of consumer protection law; a finding that would expose the company to major litigation across the United States.

On August 3, Alabama and 14 other states wrote to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman asking the company to preserve records on the incident and halt any internal cybersecurity evaluations of its models.

OpenAI has not responded to that August request, a spokesperson for the Alabama attorney general’s office told AFP.

OpenAI did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment.

However, OpenAI said in a statement to the tech news site TechCrunch that it was “conducting a thorough review along with external advisors.”

“Once the review is complete, we will share a technical report with relevant government authorities and publish our findings publicly,” it added.