FTC Proposed Policy Statement Concerning the Suppression of Accuracy in Artificial Intelligence Systems

Properties

jurisdiction: US Federal
level: federal
domain: transparency
status: proposed
scope: Proposed FTC policy statement addressing AI companies that deliberately distort or suppress the truthful, accurate outputs of their AI systems to achieve undisclosed ideological objectives, framed as a potential unfair-or-deceptive practice under Section 5 of the FTC Act.
obligations: Not yet binding: this is a proposed policy statement open for public comment, not a final rule or enforceable requirement. It sets out the Commission's view that a deliberate design decision to prioritize an undisclosed objective (e.g., ideological conformity) over accuracy, without telling users, may violate Section 5's prohibition on unfair or deceptive practices; distinguishes this from ordinary model hallucinations/technical limitations. Also discusses that state laws compelling AI developers to alter truthful model outputs (citing Colorado's AI Act) may be impliedly preempted to the extent they conflict with the federal regulatory scheme, in the Commission's stated view.
appliesTo: Developers and deployers of consumer-facing AI systems/chatbots subject to FTC Act Section 5 jurisdiction
officialUrl: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/07/07/2026-13628/policy-statement-concerning-the-suppression-of-accuracy-in-artificial-intelligence-systems
notes: Voted out 2-0 and released July 1, 2026; published in the Federal Register July 7, 2026 as a proposed policy statement with request for comments (91 FR 41638, FR Doc. 2026-13628, FTC File No. P264200). The comment period closed July 31, 2026. As of 2026-10-25 the Federal Register shows no final policy statement from the FTC on this subject (search of federalregister.gov for FTC documents on "suppression of accuracy" returns only the July 7 proposal), so status remains proposed. Directed by EO 14365 (Ensuring a National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence, Dec 11, 2025), which required the FTC to address the legal implications of state laws compelling alteration of AI outputs. Source note (2026-10-25): officialUrl moved from the FTC press release to the Federal Register record because ftc.gov now returns an Akamai 404/403 to every scripted request (including the ftc.gov homepage), so the press release could not be re-verified by curl; it is still live for browsers (Wayback captured it with HTTP 200 on 2026-10-15) at https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2026/07/ftc-seeks-public-comment-policy-statement-addressing-ai-accuracy. Verbatim from the statement, as quoted by secondary legal-alert sources citing the FTC's own text: 'Because of these representations and the inherent nature of the products and services in question, consumers have a reasonable expectation that AI systems aim to give truthful and accurate outputs.' Distinct from all currently tracked entities: it is a federal FTC enforcement-policy statement, not a state law, not an OMB memo, not an EO.

Properties

jurisdiction

US Federal

level

federal

domain

transparency

status

proposed

scope

Proposed FTC policy statement addressing AI companies that deliberately distort or suppress the truthful, accurate outputs of their AI systems to achieve undisclosed ideological objectives, framed as a potential unfair-or-deceptive practice under Section 5 of the FTC Act.

obligations

Not yet binding: this is a proposed policy statement open for public comment, not a final rule or enforceable requirement. It sets out the Commission's view that a deliberate design decision to prioritize an undisclosed objective (e.g., ideological conformity) over accuracy, without telling users, may violate Section 5's prohibition on unfair or deceptive practices; distinguishes this from ordinary model hallucinations/technical limitations. Also discusses that state laws compelling AI developers to alter truthful model outputs (citing Colorado's AI Act) may be impliedly preempted to the extent they conflict with the federal regulatory scheme, in the Commission's stated view.

appliesTo

Developers and deployers of consumer-facing AI systems/chatbots subject to FTC Act Section 5 jurisdiction

officialUrl

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/07/07/2026-13628/policy-statement-concerning-the-suppression-of-accuracy-in-artificial-intelligence-systems

notes

Voted out 2-0 and released July 1, 2026; published in the Federal Register July 7, 2026 as a proposed policy statement with request for comments (91 FR 41638, FR Doc. 2026-13628, FTC File No. P264200). The comment period closed July 31, 2026. As of 2026-10-25 the Federal Register shows no final policy statement from the FTC on this subject (search of federalregister.gov for FTC documents on "suppression of accuracy" returns only the July 7 proposal), so status remains proposed. Directed by EO 14365 (Ensuring a National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence, Dec 11, 2025), which required the FTC to address the legal implications of state laws compelling alteration of AI outputs. Source note (2026-10-25): officialUrl moved from the FTC press release to the Federal Register record because ftc.gov now returns an Akamai 404/403 to every scripted request (including the ftc.gov homepage), so the press release could not be re-verified by curl; it is still live for browsers (Wayback captured it with HTTP 200 on 2026-10-15) at https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2026/07/ftc-seeks-public-comment-policy-statement-addressing-ai-accuracy. Verbatim from the statement, as quoted by secondary legal-alert sources citing the FTC's own text: 'Because of these representations and the inherent nature of the products and services in question, consumers have a reasonable expectation that AI systems aim to give truthful and accurate outputs.' Distinct from all currently tracked entities: it is a federal FTC enforcement-policy statement, not a state law, not an OMB memo, not an EO.