A warning to companies working with AI titled Keep your AI claims in check (opens in new tab) was posted on the FTC's business blog. It is a carefully worded, business-friendly cautionary note from an attorney for the largest trade regulator in the United States. When it comes to making 'warning' claims, you need to check before you break yourself.

The FTC acknowledges that artificial intelligence or AI has no set meaning in the technology field. It is nothing more than marketing. Nevertheless, the FTC warns high-tech companies to be careful when overstating the capabilities of their products, to avoid saying they are better than non-AI products, and to be aware of the risks of letting their programs make calls for which the companies will be liable.

Oh, and be really clear about this: don't say you're using AI when you're not. As attorney Michael Atleson posted, "If you think you can get away with unsubstantiated claims that your product has AI, think again." He reminds companies that the FTC is allowed to take apart their technology to see if there is AI in it, and that using AI to make something is not the same as having AI in it.

According to U.S. business regulations, this is nothing new, and companies are usually politely warned when they are approaching the limits of what they can get away with. The agency did this a few years ago with regard to automated tools (opens in new tab) that could lead to discrimination depending on how they are programmed, and notified companies that they would be liable for discrimination anyway.

"The AI hype is playing out in many products today, from toys to cars to chatbots and many things in between. Breathless media explanations don't help, but it starts with the companies that develop and market them," Atleson said, later noting that "marketers should know that for FTC enforcement purposes, false or unsubstantiated claims about product efficacy are our bread and butter." [Unless you are too young to remember that the FTC imposed a $2 million settlement on the makers of the brain training software and game Lumosity (opens in new tab) and another brain training software developer was barred from making many claims about their product (opens in new tab), here is a video This is not news to us in gaming land.

"Whether AI can or cannot do it, it matters, and so do the claims it makes about it.

In other AI-related dumpster fire news: a chatbot with its roots in a dead artist's memorial has become an erotic role-playing phenomenon.