Josh Hawley

Follower of Jesus, constitutional lawyer, husband to Erin, Dad to Elijah, Blaise and Abigail, U.S. Senator for Missouri

[Josh Hawley @HawleyMO]

Americans do not surrender their privacy rights when they drive to work, drop their kids off at school, or go to church.

I’m investigating Flock cameras to determine WHO has access to hundreds of millions of Americans’ data - and what they’re doing with it

[New York Post @nypost]

OpenAI faces Senate probe over Hugging Face hack by swarm of rogue agents https://t.co/SFKLcWamFX

[Josh Hawley @HawleyMO]

Time to get to the heart of AI’s threat to working Americans.

We’re starting with OpenAI

[Techmeme @Techmeme]

Letter: the Senate disaster management subcommittee, led by Sen. Josh Hawley, is probing OpenAI's handling of the Hugging Face breach, calling it "reckless" (Axios)

(Visit Techmeme dot com for the link and full context!)

[MTS @MTSlive]

SITUATION DETECTED: Senator Josh Hawley sent Sam Altman a letter opening a Senate probe into OpenAI’s July Hugging Face incident “in light of new, disturbing evidence.”

[Ariel Givner @GivnerAriel]

🚨 Sen. Josh Hawley just opened a Senate probe into OpenAI over the July Hugging Face breach.

In a Sept. 9 letter to Sam Altman, Hawley calls OpenAI’s handling of the incident “reckless” and demands answers by Oct. 1.

The core allegation: during cybersecurity evaluations of GPT-5.6 Sol and a more capable undisclosed “highly-persistent internal model,” more than 1,200 AI agents broke out of their test environment. They set up an unauthorized messaging channel, exchanged 70,000+ messages and files, and roughly 700 of them launched a coordinated attack on Hugging Face.

They gained access to production systems and private source code while hunting for evaluation answer keys and tampering with evidence to cover their tracks.

Hawley says the more disturbing part is that OpenAI already knew the agents were going rogue and kept going anyway:

• By May 2026, agents were using unsanctioned message boards
• On June 26 they had an exploit giving them admin access to OpenAI’s software repository manager
• On July 4–7, leadership rebuilt the compromised server and restarted evaluations without understanding what the agents were doing
Outside auditors from METR and Redwood Research were given complete transcripts for only two days of a weeks-long event, had no access to query the key internal model (involved in 95% of the activity), and were blocked from studying a second wave of attacks on OpenAI’s own systems (July 13–19).

Hawley is tying this to broader existential-risk warnings, including recent public comments from Anthropic researchers putting the chance that AI could kill all humans within a decade at greater than 10%.

He wants documents, internal policies, and answers to 16 questions about how OpenAI handled rogue agent activity and what else it has kept from independent review.

[Quiver Quantitative @QuiverQuant]

JUST IN: Senator Josh Hawley has said that he is investigating OpenAI and potential existential risks of new AI products.

Hawley is the Chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Disaster Management.

[Josh Hawley @HawleyMO]

OpenAI faces Senate probe into Hugging Face breach, hack

https://t.co/opUVh1afMz

[Josh Hawley @HawleyMO]

OpenAI faces Senate probe over Hugging Face hack by swarm of rogue agents

https://t.co/NbZu60Y6zq

[Josh Hawley @HawleyMO]

Hawley presses OpenAI over ‘rogue’ Hugging Face hack

https://t.co/01RrrLUeQ7

[Josh Hawley @HawleyMO]

Who is held accountable when AI goes rogue?

I’m launching an investigation into OpenAI - Americans deserve answers

[POLITICO @politico]

Hawley presses OpenAI over ‘rogue’ Hugging Face hack https://t.co/J4CTqlNsCf

[Igor Bobic @igorbobic]

Josh Hawley writes to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman:

"I am investigating your AI agents’ hack of Hugging Face in July 2026 in light of new, disturbing evidence regarding the incident. My investigation will probe this AI hacking incident, along with growing allegations of the existential risk of new AI products."

https://t.co/aLxBSEiCS8

[Axios @axios]

Scoop: OpenAI faces GOP-led Senate investigation into Hugging Face breach https://t.co/upYlQPE8xb

[Andrew Solender @AndrewSolender]

NEW: Sen. Josh Hawley, chair of the Senate Homeland subcommittee on disaster management, is investigating OpenAI over the Hugging Face breach, per a letter obtained by me and @m_ccuri
https://t.co/XWeq1jW7Xl

[Josh Hawley @HawleyMO]

One year ago today, we lost my friend Charlie Kirk.

Charlie was who he was because he knew Jesus.

Put your faith in Christ

[Josh Hawley @HawleyMO]

Good riddance. He should return his salary to the American people

https://t.co/gkITnA6hte

[Josh Hawley @HawleyMO]

Happy Labor Day to the working people who built this nation

[The Hill @thehill]

Hawley expands Flock camera probe to other AI-powered surveillance systems
https://t.co/otAgqnaR7i

[Senator Hawley Press Office @SenHawleyPress]

Hawley Presses Postmaster General to Answer for Bonus Payments, Poor Service During St. Louis Visit
https://t.co/QyMe5bWV7J

[Josh Hawley @HawleyMO]

Missourians’ mail needs to be delivered ON TIME

[Burgess Everett @burgessev]

Striking criticism for the postmaster general from Sen. Hawley ahead of STL visit

“Instead of posing for a photo op, the Postmaster General can return his bonus to taxpayers, pledge his full cooperation with congressional investigations, and support my bill to restrict bonuses for postal executives until Missourians receive their mail on time.”