The Wild West of artificial intelligence is meeting the new sheriff in town: The FTC recently announced it will crack down on businesses that "use AI hype or sell AI technology that can be used in deceptive and unfair ways."
That includes DoNotPay, also known as the "Robot Lawyer," which claimed its AI chatbot could procure valid legal documents and would "replace the $200-billion-dollar legal industry with artificial intelligence." In reality, DoNotPay never conducted any testing to make sure its offerings were equivalent to services rendered by a human attorney, and the company never employed any actual lawyers to advise on the product. In the long run, DoNotPay's elaborate deception ended up harming the company more than benefitting it. DoNotPay's reputation is now tarnished, and it owes $193,000 as a part of a settlement order (guess they should've stuck with human lawyers).
Jokes and robot lawyers aside, businesses need to consider the ethics and risks of misrepresenting or overhyping their brands through potentially false marketing claims of "AI-powered" products or services. Especially since the FTC will also be prohibiting businesses from writing or selling fake consumer reviews (including, and especially, ones written using AI).
And it's not just the FTC that's laying down the AI law. The FCC recently proposed rules regarding AI-generated robocalls and robotexts, and California Governor Gavin Newsom is leading the charge to develop "responsible guardrails" for the deployment of generative AI.
As regulations increase around the technology, companies could find their reputations in hot water, and themselves out thousands or even millions in legal fees, settlements, and fines if they don't comply.
Slowly but surely, the leash around AI is being tightened to protect consumers from scams, misinformation, fraud, and other highly unethical applications.
With that in mind, read on for how brands can cautiously and ethically add AI to their marketing, PR, and advertising practices.
Start by being honest
Per the FTC's announcement, Ascend Ecom is another company the agency plans to crack down on for deceptive AI claims. The company charged consumers tens of thousands of dollars and claimed it could create online stores for them on Walmart, Etsy, Amazon, and other major e-commerce platforms.
In its announcement, the FTC referenced an advertising claim from Ascend Ecom saying it was a "leader in ecommerce." Yet, as it turned out, the company was more accurately a leader in lying to its customers. Ascend Ecom didn't follow through on its promise to provide a "five-figure monthly income by the second year." Instead, according to the FTC, the company left its customers out of money and in tons of debt. Now, under investigation by the FTC, Ascend Ecom has been required to halt its operations.
On a scale between legitimate businesses to elaborate schemes, it's pretty clear the companies the FTC is cracking down on fall closer to the latter. But your company doesn't have to be a scam to mislead consumers through marketing. Remember when TurboTax, a platform that offers actual tax services, mislead consumers into thinking it was free?
Likewise, regarding promotional claims around AI, it's best to be as honest and transparent as possible. Focus on communicating publicly what your product can do—not what it can't actually do.
For instance, if your company website has an AI chatbot that can make free recipe recommendations, promote that. On the other hand, if your AI chatbot can generate only basic recipes or meal recommendations, don't lie to customers by telling them the chatbot will turn them into a Michelin-starred chef and help them start their own restaurant for a "small" fee.
Sure, an exaggeration or lie might garner more customers and dollar signs at first. However, once complaints begin being filed and the court of public opinion renders judgment—sharing far and wide across social media—brands will eventually pay the price through negative news headlines, lost trust, and fewer zeros on company bank account statements.
Know the limitations of AI
In its current state, AI is far from perfect. It's not uncommon for artificial intelligence to generate misleading or even completely wrong information.
The University of Maryland notes that AI can give the wrong answer, accidentally omit information, mix truth and fiction, and make up fake people, events, or articles.
For instance, in its research, when the University of Maryland asked ChatGPT to name all countries that start with V, it only named two (Vanuatu and Vatican City), ignoring several other countries that start with V, such as Venezuela or Vietnam. And AI famously struggles with some incredibly straightforward queries, like how to spell the word strawberry or how many rocks you should eat per day(yes, it actually provided an answer that was not zero).
There are also concerns about AI outputs' containing biases based on harmful stereotypes, and there are several issues related to plagiarism within AI-generated text, images, videos, and other content.
Even simply using an AI-generated image in a company ad could lead to that ad's having offensive implicit biases or copyrighted content without your ever knowing—that is, until the cease-and-desist letter arrives.
When promoting AI tools for your company, or even when using AI to create promotional content, it's important to know how far you actually are able to take the technology. The last thing you want is to say a company's AI chatbot is right 100% of the time when it isn't, or have customers use your AI tool only for it to spew out offensive prejudices.
Understanding all of AI's limitations will make it a lot easier to implement it ethically.
Make sure AI makes sense for your brand
AI isn't for everyone, at least not yet. Don't jump on the AI bandwagon just because it's the latest new tech right now.
It's vital for you to understand the potential drawbacks and criticisms of AI so you can make an informed decision when implementing it (for example, you should be aware of the environmental and intellectual property concerns surrounding it).
Truly assess whether AI will add and not subtract from your brand or the brands you work with. And if AI does make sense for your brand, make sure the use cases are applied and promoted in a way that helps, not hurts, consumers.
For instance, a legal AI chatbot as a first line for customer service or for quick client questions isn't necessarily a bad idea, and it could be great to mention in marketing or PR materials, as long as there's a team of human attorneys behind it doing the actual consulting work.
* * *
Companies shouldn't be afraid of regulations around AI. Instead, they should embrace them. With more guardrails to protect consumers against nefarious AI use cases, the tech will become less of a ticking time bomb and more of a usable and accessible tool.
Just as there's a reason we have seatbelts and stop signs, there's a reason why the government is regulating how companies implement and market AI.
We're at a point where this technology can have huge payoffs for companies who wield it, but it will work for everyone only if it's wielded responsibly.
