OpenAI has announced the acquisition of Promptfoo, an AI security startup founded in 2024 by Ian Webster and Michael D’Angelo, in a move aimed at strengthening the safety and reliability of AI agents used in enterprise environments. The company said Promptfoo’s technology will be integrated into OpenAI Frontier, its platform designed to support the deployment of advanced AI agents that can autonomously perform digital tasks.
Promptfoo develops tools that allow organizations to test large language models for vulnerabilities, simulate attacks, and evaluate AI workflows for security risks. The platform includes an open-source interface and testing library that the company said is already used by more than 25% of Fortune 500 companies. OpenAI stated that the integration will enable automated red-teaming, monitoring of agent behavior, and evaluation of compliance and security risks across AI-powered systems.
At the same time, tensions across the AI industry have intensified after the U.S. Department of Defense labeled Anthropic a supply-chain risk following the company’s refusal to allow its AI models to be used for domestic mass surveillance or fully autonomous weapons. More than 30 employees from OpenAI and Google DeepMind, including Jeff Dean, Chief Scientist at Google DeepMind, filed a legal brief supporting Anthropic’s lawsuit challenging the decision.
The filing argued that the government’s designation could damage U.S. competitiveness in artificial intelligence and discourage open debate about the risks and safeguards surrounding advanced AI systems. The brief also emphasized that contractual and technical restrictions imposed by AI developers remain a key safeguard while broader public regulation of AI technologies continues to evolve.
