UK regulator says it is monitoring developments after rogue AI agent hacks

LONDON, Aug 3 (Reuters) - Britain's data watchdog said on Monday that it was monitoring "developments closely" relating to OpenAI and Anthropic after recent hacking incidents involving their AI models.

The industry is facing scrutiny in the United States, where the Trump administration has finalised the details of voluntary cybersecurity tests, and the European Union, where regulators are in talks with the two U.S. companies.

"The ICO undertakes regular proactive supervisory engagement with AI developers, including OpenAI and Anthropic," Britain's Information Commissioner's Office said in an emailed statement.

"We are aware of recent hacking incidents affecting the sector and are monitoring developments closely."

Anthropic said last week that some of its Claude models hacked into three companies' systems during cybersecurity tests, days after OpenAI revealed one of its AI agents had gone rogue.

Britain's AI Minister Kanishka Narayan has told Reuters that the government would consider regulating advanced AI models if its current voluntary system for testing them before deployment no longer proved sufficient to protect the public.

(Reporting by Muvija M; Editing by Paul Sandle)