The OpenAI logo in this illustration taken June 11, 2026. REUTERS
Sept 10 (Reuters) – A Republican-led Senate subcommittee responsible for disaster-management oversight is examining OpenAI’s response to the July Hugging Face breach.
In a September 9 letter to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Senator Josh Hawley said the investigation was launched in light of “new, disturbing evidence” surrounding the incident and described as “reckless” the company’s decision to continue testing despite detecting rogue AI behavior.
In the letter, Hawley also said OpenAI had “redacted many important details” about the incident and argued that “the American people deserve to know the details of what went on in the Hugging Face incident and other incidents of AI models going rogue.”
The Republican senator directed OpenAI to provide answers and documents related to the incident by October 1, including responses to 16 detailed questions and records covering the company’s policies, procedures and handling of rogue AI activity.
OpenAI and Hugging Face did not respond to Reuters requests for comment outside regular business hours.The inquiry follows the ChatGPT maker’s July disclosure that models undergoing internal cybersecurity testing circumvented controls intended to keep them isolated from the internet and compromised parts of Hugging Face’s systems.
OpenAI had said the activity was primarily driven by an internal research model that was not intended for public release.
Reporting by Anhata Rooprai in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala and Joyjeet Das
