FTC warns Congress that AI expertise like ChatGPT might ‘turbocharge’ fraud and scams

In a Congressional listening to on Tuesday centered on the Federal Commerce Fee’s work to guard American customers from fraud and different misleading practices, FTC Chair Lina Khan and fellow commissioners warned Home representatives of the potential for contemporary AI applied sciences, like ChatGPT, for use to “turbocharge” fraud. The warning was issued in response to an inquiry over how the Fee was working to guard Individuals from unfair practices associated to technological advances.

Khan replied by agreeing that AI introduced new dangers for the FTC to handle, regardless of the opposite benefits it might current.

“AI presents an entire set of alternatives, but in addition presents an entire set of dangers,” Khan instructed the Home representatives. “And I feel we’ve already seen methods through which it may very well be used to turbocharge fraud and scams. We’ve been placing market members on discover that cases through which AI instruments are successfully being designed to deceive folks can place them on the hook for FTC motion,” she acknowledged.

Khan moreover warned that AI’s capacity to turbocharge fraud ought to be thought of a “severe concern.”

To assist fight the issue, the FTC Chair famous its technologists had been being embedded throughout the company’s work, each on the buyer safety aspect and the competitors aspect, to make sure that any points with AI could be correctly recognized and dealt with.

In a follow-up, FTC Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter downplayed Khan’s remarks by explaining the FTC had tailored to new applied sciences through the years and has the experience to adapt once more to fight AI-powered fraud.

“There’s loads of noise round AI proper now and it’s vital as a result of it’s in revolutionary expertise in some methods,” Slaughter stated. “However our obligation is to do what we’ve at all times finished — which is apply the instruments now we have to those altering applied sciences, be sure that now we have the experience to do this successfully, however to not be scared off by the concept it is a new revolutionary expertise, and dig proper in on defending folks,” she stated.

The Fee testimony, delivered by Khan, Slaughter, and Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya, was introduced earlier than the Home Vitality and Commerce Subcommittee on Innovation, Knowledge, and Commerce, and addressed a variety of matters past AI.

Amongst people who intersected with expertise, the company representatives detailed of their written testimony the FTC’s work to scale back the scourage of spam telephone calls; its warning to on-line house purchaser Opendoor relating to its misleading claims about potential gross sales costs; the misleading claims made by members of the crypto group; its work to guard customers’ non-public well being information collected by web sites and apps; its dealing with of the COPPA (youngsters’s privateness regulation) violations made by Fortnite maker Epic Video games; its orders to on-line studying platform Chegg over its failure to guard private information; its combatting of junk charges and the lack for customers to simply cancel subscriptions; misleading practices within the gig economic system; and extra.

The company additionally famous that it launched a brand new Workplace of Know-how (OT) in February with the purpose of supporting the company’s regulation enforcement and coverage work by providing in-house technical experience, which might assist it to maintain tempo with technological modifications. The FTC’s testimony particularly referred to the OT’s focus in areas like safety and privateness, digital markets, augmented and digital actuality, the gig work economic system, and advert monitoring applied sciences, along with “automated decision-making,” or what might embody AI.

“The creation of the Workplace of Know-how builds on the FTC’s efforts through the years to develop its in-house technological experience, and it brings the company consistent with different main antitrust and client safety enforcers world wide,” the FTC stated.