The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has launched an inquiry into several companies, including Alphabet and Meta Platforms, that provide consumer-facing AI-powered chatbots. The FTC aims to understand how these companies measure and test the potential negative impacts of their technology, as well as how they monetize user engagement and process user inputs. This inquiry follows recent scrutiny of generative AI companies, including a lawsuit against OpenAI over ChatGPT's alleged role in a teen's suicide and another lawsuit against Character.AI over a separate teen's death by suicide.