US FTC says AI bias safeguards may run afoul of consumer law

By Courtney Rozen ‌and Jody Godoy

WASHINGTON, ​July ​1 (Reuters) - The Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday said AI companies whose chatbots produce responses ‌that reflect "ideological objectives" may violate federal law, as part ⁠of a proposed policy on how the FTC will apply ‌its authority to the sector.

The ‌FTC said AI companies that train their chatbots to avoid responses that discriminate against specific groups of ​people may run afoul of the Federal Trade Act's Section 5. The law prohibits unfair or ⁠deceptive business practices.

Complying with a Colorado law aimed at preventing AI-driven discrimination in ​employment and other consequential decisions could violate the FTC Act, the agency said.

U.S. President Donald ​Trump and other conservatives have ‌accused AI chatbots of being politically biased against them. This is the latest example ⁠of conservatives aiming to use the power of the federal government to prevent that.

The FTC will accept public comment on ⁠the proposed policy until July 31.

FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson has used ​the FTC's authority to police unfair and deceptive practices in other cases aimed at addressing conservative grievances, including a case against ‌a transgender health nonprofit.

AI chatbot developers Anthropic and OpenAI did not immediately respond to ‌a request from Reuters for comment on the FTC's ⁠proposal. Alphabet's Google declined ‌to comment.

(Reporting by Courtney ​Rozen in Washington and Jody Godoy in New York; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Mark ‌Porter)

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