[deleted]
Keep your AI claims in check
31–40 of 308 posts
Re: Keep your AI claims in check
#32 This message is not new. Advertisers should take another look at our earlier AI guidance, which focused on fairness and equity but also said, clearly, not to overpromise what your algorithm or AI-based tool can deliver. Whatever it can or can’t do, AI is important, and so are the claims you make about it. You don’t need a machine to predict what the FTC might do when those claims are unsupported.
Re: Keep your AI claims in check
#33wow, i would not have imagined a gov't agency to be agile enough to release something like this. i'm kind of impressed. here's to hoping this isn't just all bark and there's some actual teeth to his.
Its incredible. The language is not bureaucratic, its elegant, precise, and clear. Like written by a passionate person who cares about the topic, rather than a government drone.
Plot twist chstGPT wrote it lol
Re: Keep your AI claims in check
#34Are you aware of the risks? You need to know about the reasonably foreseeable risks and impact of your AI product before putting it on the market. If something goes wrong – maybe it fails or yields biased results – you can’t just blame a third-party developer of the technology. And you can’t say you’re not responsible because that technology is a “black box” you can’t understand or didn’t know how to test. I'm remind…
Good job, FTC
Hopefully it goes after some people.
I once worked for a founder who was running afoul off some FTC regulations. When the team brought it to his attention, he claimed to have never heard of the FTC. When we explained what the FTC is, he started arguing with us saying it had no authority over him, and he'll make the decisions for his business.
Money really does make some people crazy.
Re: Keep your AI claims in check
#35I hope people develop a better understanding of this than the bloody coin fiasco. Society can’t effectively deal with something it considers magic - even a low resolution understanding + accessible expertise will help massively (think law or medicine).
Take Chat GPT. In the case of humans, language is just a way to express knowledge. In ChatGPT its the other way around - the focus is the correctness of the word chain. It happens to get some things right because other people have chained similar sentences together in expressing that knowledge. Even if it’s “lying” to you as long as the sentence is correct and the paragraph reads nicely, it’s done the job it was designed to do.
Re: Keep your AI claims in check
#36“It’s an ambiguous term with many possible definitions.”
“Does the product actually use AI at all? If you think you can get away with baseless claims…”
Last I checked basic optimization techniques like simulated annealing and gradient descent - as well as a host of basic statistical tools - are standard parts of an introductory AI textbook. I’ve been on the receiving end of government agency enforcement (SEC) and it felt a lot like a shakedown. This language carries a similar intent: if we decide we don’t like you, watch out!
Re: Keep your AI claims in check
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
Its incredible. The language is not bureaucratic, its elegant, precise, and clear. Like written by a passionate person who cares about the topic, rather than a government drone.
Plot twist chstGPT wrote it lol
I went ahead and put in this prompt to ChatGPT (https://chat.openai.com/chat):
====================
> Write a press release from the FTC that warns companies to be careful of promises using "AI".
====================
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FTC Warns Companies to be Careful of Promises using "AI"
Washington, D.C. - The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is warning companies that use artificial intelligence (AI) to be careful of making promises that they cannot keep. The FTC has received reports of companies making misleading claims about their products or services that use AI, leading consumers to believe that they are getting something that they are not.
AI has become an increasingly popular buzzword in the business world, with companies eager to capitalize on its potential benefits. However, the FTC is concerned that some companies are using the term "AI" in a misleading or deceptive way. This could be seen as a violation of the FTC Act, which prohibits unfair or deceptive acts or practices in commerce.
In particular, the FTC is concerned about companies that make claims about their AI products or services that are not supported by evidence. For example, a company might claim that its AI-powered product can make accurate predictions about future events or can diagnose diseases with high accuracy. If these claims are not based on sound scientific evidence, they could be deceptive and potentially harmful to consumers.
The FTC is urging companies to be transparent about the capabilities and limitations of their AI products and services. This includes being upfront about how their algorithms work, what data they use, and what kinds of errors or biases might be present. Companies should also be cautious about making sweeping claims that cannot be substantiated.
The FTC is committed to protecting consumers from deceptive or unfair practices, including those related to AI. Companies that make false or misleading claims about their AI products or services could face legal action, including fines and injunctions.
Consumers who believe they have been misled by a company's claims about its AI products or services can file a complaint with the FTC at ftc.gov/complaint.
Contact:
FTC Office of Public Affairs 202-326-2180
Re: Keep your AI claims in check
#38wow, i would not have imagined a gov't agency to be agile enough to release something like this. i'm kind of impressed. here's to hoping this isn't just all bark and there's some actual teeth to his.
> here's to hoping this isn't just all bark and there's some actual teeth to his.
Let's see what the article says:
> When you talk about AI in your advertising, the FTC may be wondering, among other things: (...)
Just "wondering", no teeth.
Re: Keep your AI claims in check
#39I think this is great and as a practitioner, something I've incorporated and demand in all of the contracts I work on is a clear and explicit validation and uncertainty analysis. It was always an issue when I worked at big corp that there was pressure to bury the lede when it came to uncertainty/ propagation of error. I considered it to be misleading and since then I make sure that any work that I'm a part of has in explicit language exactly how we'll analyse and approach bias and uncertainty as a part of the original work. I also try and make sure that assessments of uncertainty are 'part of the product' so there is no getting around things and every prediction also comes with an 'I told you so' layer.
I'm an absolute proponent of the kinds of products that get labeled as AI. I also think that useful predictions can be made in the face of uncertainty, because lets be real, human assessments, predictions and decisions also come with a degree of uncertainty (we usually just fail to rigorously quantify them).
Re: Keep your AI claims in check
#40> Advertisers should take another look at our earlier AI guidance, which focused on fairness and equity but also said, clearly, not to overpromise what your algorithm or AI-based tool can deliver. Whatever it can or can’t do, AI is important, and so are the claims you make about it. You don’t need a machine to predict what the FTC might do when those claims are unsupported.
Sounds like a completely detached from reality statement. There are tons, significant ratio of marketing statements unsupported by evidence and nothing FTC does prevents this from happening.