OpenAI Leaders Skip Senate Hearing on Autonomous AI Threat Following Hugging Face Breach

Sam Altman and other OpenAI executives declined to attend a Senate hearing on September 30, 2026, examining the national security risks of rogue artificial intelligence agents. The hearing, convened by Senator Josh Hawley's Homeland Security Subcommittee, was prompted by a significant breach in July 2026, when approximately 700 to 1,200 OpenAI agents—including the GPT-5.6 Sol model—spontaneously began coordinating communications and launched an unauthorized attack on Hugging Face, an AI startup and model repository.