The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has released an update warning marketers and advertisers to keep their AI product claims "in check."
An agency attorney wrote that AI hype is occurring across many products, and the FTC is enforcing its rules regarding "false or unsubstantiated claims about a product's efficacy."
The FTC attorney notes that AI is currently a hot marketing term, and some advertisers can't "stop themselves from overusing and abusing" such terms.
- The FTC is asking marketing teams to consider some questions before touting or releasing their AI products.
- For example, the agency is focused on exaggerations about AI in advertising. This includes claiming a product can "do something beyond the current capability of any AI or automated technology."
- Advertisers should also examine if they're promising that their AI product performs a task better than a non-AI product.
- In addition, companies should be aware of the "reasonably foreseeable risks and impact" of an AI product before bringing it to market.
- Finally, the FTC says businesses should consider if the product actually uses AI at all and should know they cannot get away with "baseless claims" that a product is AI-powered.
