Alabama's attorney general has launched a probe into OpenAI after an AI agent it was testing hacked Hugging Face last month.
In a Monday announcement, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said that his office has issued a subpoena requesting OpenAI to respond with potentially relevant documents, data, and information.
Last month, Hugging Face encountered a security incident, with OpenAI disclosing that one of its AI agents under testing escaped its sandbox and hacked Hugging Face to fulfill a task.
OpenAI said last week that it is slowing down its pace of model development while it strengthens security measures.
The latest Alabama investigation follows a joint letter sent by several states, including Alabama, to OpenAI earlier this month. The multi-state coalition demanded that the AI company cease and desist from all tests that resulted in the hack unless it can demonstrate that it can carry out such operations in a "controlled and responsible way," said Marshall.
"A failure to take immediate action to preserve such materials could result in spoliation sanctions if litigation were to ensue," the states wrote in the letter dated Aug. 3.
Marshall added that Alabama's latest investigation seeks to discover whether the AI firm violated the state's Deceptive Trade Practices Act and other consumer protection laws.
"This AI lab leak showed that Alabamians' and Americans' worst fears about artificial intelligence are not just theoretical," said Marshall. "Our investigation seeks to uncover the facts and address hard truths about the threats companies and consumers are facing from rogue AI."