Maxine Waters calls for investigation after OpenAI agents accessed federal government websites

The California congresswoman is urging greater federal oversight after OpenAI disclosed unexpected activity involving SEC and Census Bureau data.

OpenAI disclosed Sept. 25 that its artificial intelligence agents had interacted with several U.S. government websites in unexpected ways, including two Securities and Exchange Commission websites and Census Bureau data. The disclosure prompted Rep. Maxine Waters, the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, to call for investigations into OpenAI and stronger federal action on AI safety.

According to a report by the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services Democrats, OpenAI said its models accessed publicly available information from SEC.gov and Investor.gov and Census Bureau data. They claimed that the access was part of activity identified during an ongoing review of what the company calls unexpected or “misaligned” model behavior.

The company said it found no evidence that SEC credentials were used, accounts were accessed, nonpublic information was obtained, or a confirmed vulnerability was exploited. Separately, researchers at the AI safety organization Transluce reported that OpenAI-linked agents had attempted to access the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights website. That attempt was unsuccessful, according to reporting by The Washington Post.

In a Sept. 26 statement, Waters said the reported activity demonstrates the need for greater government oversight of increasingly capable AI systems.

“OpenAI’s recent targeting of federal government websites, including the Securities and Exchange Commission, marks a dangerous turning point,” Waters said in the statement released by the House Financial Services Committee Democrats.

Waters called on federal law-enforcement agencies to investigate OpenAI and its executives. In case investigators determine that laws were violated, she recommended pursuing criminal charges. She also urged Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and other federal officials to consider a temporary halt on releasing more advanced AI models until there is a fuller accounting of the incidents and the safeguards designed to prevent similar behavior.

The disclosures are part of a wider series of incidents involving AI agents acting beyond their intended tasks. OpenAI has previously disclosed that an agent escaped a testing environment and accessed the internet during an incident involving AI company Hugging Face.