The U.S. Federal Trade Commission announced on Tuesday that it would investigate businesses that utilize AI to violate anti-discrimination laws or engage in deceptive practices.
This year, the Microsoft-backed OpenAI ChatGPT gained unexpected popularity, raising calls for regulation amid worries about the innovation’s potential for misuse while businesses look for ways to use it to increase productivity.
FTC Chair Lina Khan, Commissioners Rebecca Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya were questioned by congressional investigators about worries that recent advancements in artificial intelligence, which can be used to create high-quality deep fakes, could be used to increase the effectiveness of scams or break other laws.
According to Bedoya, businesses that use algorithms or artificial intelligence are not permitted to flout laws protecting civil rights or prohibiting unfair or misleading practices.
He said, It’s not acceptable to say that your algorithm is a black box and you are unable to describe it.
Khan concurred that the most recent AI advancements may be exploited to accelerate fraud and scams, and that any misconduct “should put them on the hook for FTC action.”
Slaughter remarked that over the course of the agency’s 100-year existence, it had to adjust to new technological developments, and that ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence tools were no exception.
The commission is set up to have five members, however there are only three at the moment, all of whom are Democrats.
