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Federal Trade Commission's Proposed Policy Statement Concerning the Suppression of Accuracy in Artificial Intelligence Systems
Record US-24
- Issued by
- Federal Trade Commission
- Jurisdiction
- United States
- Level · region
- National · North America
- Published / adopted
- 2026-07-01
- Language
- English
Summary
Proposed FTC enforcement policy statement, issued as directed by Executive Order 14365, on how Section 5 of the FTC Act applies to AI systems. Since consumers reasonably expect AI systems to aim at truthful and accurate outputs, the Commission considers that companies steering outputs toward undisclosed objectives, away from those users set or reasonably expect, are likely to deceive consumers, even when they do so to comply with a state law such as Colorado's AI Act; state laws requiring such deception would be impliedly preempted. A disclaimer must be clear, conspicuous and prominent, not buried in terms of service. Hallucinations alone do not raise Section 5 issues.
Safety topics
transparency & labellingaccountability & liability
Status notes
Dated 1 Jul 2026. Section 7 of Executive Order 14365 (11 Dec 2025) directed the Commission to issue a policy statement on how Section 5 of the FTC Act applies to AI models and how state laws requiring alterations to their accurate outputs can conflict with it. The Commission voted 2-0 to publish the proposed statement in the Federal Register for public comment, with comments due by 31 Jul 2026, to help it formulate a final policy. The statement takes no position on whether the practices it discusses are also unfair under the FTC Act. It notes that the FTC Act does not expressly preempt state law and relies on implied conflict preemption. It cites Colorado's AI Act, repealed and re-enacted as amended by SB 26-189 (enacted 14 May 2026), as a state law that could lead AI companies to suppress accuracy to avoid liability for discriminatory outcomes. As of 17 Oct 2026 it remained a proposed statement.
Sources
Open the official source https://www.ftc.gov/legal-library/browse/federal-trade-commissions-proposed-policy-statement-concerning-suppression-accuracy-artificial
Local copy
Archived. A source changed since the previous snapshot; both versions are kept. Last attempt 2026-10-17 22:12:18 UTC
Official source (third-party copy, not published) archive/US-24/2026-10-17/official-2.html
Retrieved 2026-10-17 22:12:22 UTC
SHA-256 070aaaaf05808bd37fac8037bf4ce910879122ed86abacefb2616a06a0822f01
Linked document (PDF) (third-party copy, not published) archive/US-24/2026-10-11/document-1.pdf
Retrieved 2026-10-11 14:04:08 UTC
SHA-256 fe359747815914cd7ada8916e4d1c87efc066a02636c6a0e9fa595b095c81f2b
Verification
AThe instrument's own official text, or an official register, was stored and confirms the title, date and status. checked 2026-10-18 · official-url-fetched
Recheck of 17 Oct 2026: the FTC legal library page stored on 17 Oct 2026 (it differs from the 11 Oct copy only in site navigation) still lists the document as a proposed policy statement dated 1 Jul 2026 by the Federal Trade Commission and links the statement's PDF, stored on 11 Oct 2026 and unchanged on 17 Oct (9 pages). The FTC press release of 1 Jul 2026, linked from that page and stored in this run, gives the 2-0 Commission vote, the Federal Register publication and the comment deadline of 31 Jul 2026. The summary and notes are now written from these sources instead of law-firm summaries. 'Bureau of Consumer Protection' appears on both pages only as a topic tag, so issuing_body is now the Commission. The date by which EO 14365 required the statement is not in the stored sources and was removed from notes. The Federal Register citation of the notice is not stored, so official_identifier stays empty. No final statement appears in the stored sources.
Second check: Independent check by Claude Code (claude-sonnet-5-5), 2026-10-18: 8 field(s) supported.
History
- 2026-10-18related: [{"slug": "us-eo-14365", "id": "US-20"}, {"slug": "co-sb-26-189", "id": "US-CO-0 → [{"slug": "us-eo-14365", "id": "US-20"}, {"slug": "co-sb-26-189", "id": "US-CO-0 — two-way link added: US-22, US-CO-01 link(s) to US-242026-10-18-fix-related-links · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)
- 2026-10-18notes: Issued 1 Jul 2026 in response to EO 14365 Sec. 7 (originally due about 11 Mar 20 → Dated 1 Jul 2026. Section 7 of Executive Order 14365 (11 Dec 2025) directed the — removed a hedge ('Secondary sources report' a 31 Jul 2026 comment deadline, now confirmed by the FTC press release and stated plainly), a research remark ('no final statement was found') and two claims not in the stored sources (the original EO deadline, 'courts have not ruled'); added the 2-0 vote and Federal Register publication for comment, and the statement's own points on unfairness, implied preemption and Colorado SB 26-1892026-10-17-recheck-north-america-1 · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)
- 2026-10-18summary: Proposed FTC guidance that treats accuracy as consumers' default expectation of → Proposed FTC enforcement policy statement, issued as directed by Executive Order — rewritten from the statement's own text (stored PDF) instead of law-firm summaries; adds the EO 14365 mandate, the disclaimer requirements and the hallucination carve-out2026-10-17-recheck-north-america-1 · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)
- 2026-10-18issuing_body: Federal Trade Commission (Bureau of Consumer Protection) → Federal Trade Commission — the stored page attributes the statement to the Federal Trade Commission ('By Federal Trade Commission (FTC)') and the statement is the Commission's; 'Bureau of Consumer Protection' is only a topic tag on the page2026-10-17-recheck-north-america-1 · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)
Citation
Federal Trade Commission. Federal Trade Commission's Proposed Policy Statement Concerning the Suppression of Accuracy in Artificial Intelligence Systems. 2026-07-01. https://www.ftc.gov/legal-library/browse/federal-trade-commissions-proposed-policy-statement-concerning-suppression-accuracy-artificial. Status: Draft / proposed; verified 2026-10-18 (level A). Local copy archive/US-24/2026-10-17/official-2.html retrieved 2026-10-17 22:12:22 UTC, SHA-256 070aaaaf05808bd37fac8037bf4ce910879122ed86abacefb2616a06a0822f01. Every AI Policy Ever, version 1.18 (snapshot 2026-10-18), record US-24.
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