Policy Statement Concerning the Suppression of Accuracy in AI Systems

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Notice

Policy Statement Concerning the Suppression of Accuracy in Artificial Intelligence Systems

Agency

Federal Trade Commission

Agency/Docket Number

File No. P264200

Document Citation

91 FR 41638

Document Number

2026-13628

Document Type Notice

Pages

41638-41642 (5 pages)

Publication Date

07/07/2026

View printed version (PDF)

Document Details

Agency

Federal Trade Commission

Agency/Docket Number

File No. P264200

Document Citation

91 FR 41638

Document Number

2026-13628

Document Type Notice

Pages

41638-41642 (5 pages)

Publication Date

07/07/2026

Document Dates

Comments Close 07/31/2026

Dates Text Comments must be received on or before Friday, July 31, 2026.

Table of Contents

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AGENCY:

ACTION:

SUMMARY:

DATES:

ADDRESSES:

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Summary

II. Background

III. The Commission's Authority Under Section 5 of the FTC Act

IV. Deceiving Consumers as to the Objectives of an AI System Is a Section 5 Violation

V. Comment Submissions

Footnotes

Public Comments

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Policy Statement Concerning the Suppression of Accuracy in Artificial Intelligence Systems

Comment Due Date 07/31/2026 Docket ID

FTC-2026-0859

Supporting Documents

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Federal Trade Commission

[File No. P264200]

AGENCY:

Federal Trade Commission.

ACTION:

Proposed policy statement; request for comments.

SUMMARY:

The Federal Trade Commission (“Commission”) is proposing a policy statement regarding the application of the prohibition on deceptive acts or practices in section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act to companies that market artificial intelligence (“AI”) systems.

DATES:

Comments must be received on or before Friday, July 31, 2026.

ADDRESSES:

Members of the public may file a comment online or on paper by following the instructions in the Comment Submissions part of the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below. Write “AI Policy Statement; Matter No. P264200” on your comment and file your comment online at https://www.regulations.gov/​docket/​FTC-2026-0859. If you prefer to file your comment on paper, mail your comment to the following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Mail Stop H-144 (Annex P), Washington, DC 20580.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Summary

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is reshaping how Americans consume information, educate our children, and perform our jobs.[1]

As they have marketed their remarkable breakthroughs to the public, AI companies have spent years representing explicitly and implicitly that their systems aim to produce the best output—output that faithfully and accurately achieves users' stated objectives and the built-in objectives that users expect in the AI system—that is possible within their technological and resource constraints. 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. Consumers have no basis to believe that AI systems aim to produce outputs that are distorted by undisclosed ideological objectives.

Nonetheless, an AI company might be tempted to alter or steer the output of its systems contrary to consumers' reasonable expectations for various reasons, including attempted compliance with a State law, such as Colorado's recently revised Artificial Intelligence Act. But steering an AI system in this manner may deceive consumers in violation of section 5 of the FTC Act. That is true even if the deceptive steering is done in an effort to comply with State laws. Of course, a company may be able to avert potential deception by making truthful, non-misleading representations about the aims of its model. But such representations would need to make clear the AI company is prioritizing objectives different than those consumers requested or would otherwise expect.

II. Background

Artificial intelligence is an umbrella term covering a universe of different tools and systems now used across nearly every sector of the economy and in most people's daily lives.[2]

Regardless of whether one has in mind modern large language models, AI applications applying large-language models to particular purposes, or a not-yet-developed superintelligence, the hallmark of a successful AI system is an ability to accurately “make predictions, recommendations, or decisions” for its user consistent with a given objective.[3]

Their utility can then be judged by how well the solution matches consumers' objectives.

On a fundamental level, these products and services solve problems for people. For many Americans, they are becoming part and parcel of daily life, relied upon for research, analysis, and advice on both personal and business issues. This development reflects consumers' confidence that AI companies are bound by the same rules as other American companies: they will deal with consumers in good faith and with no hidden agenda, and they will not work in the shadows to punish those who hold opinions contrary to theirs. In large part, that confidence itself reflects the basic fact that the United States is the global standard-bearer for AI technologies.[4]

That American companies dominate every layer of the AI ecosystem should not be taken for granted. Geopolitical rivals are investing heavily in this sphere, hoping to inject their own companies and values into the marketplace. American dominance is thus about more than winning some abstract race. It is about ensuring Americans can continue to feel their values are being respected as they interact with, and benefit from, an AI-powered economy.

Under the President's leadership, the Trump-Vance Administration has taken decisive steps to sustain America's global AI dominance [5]

by removing regulatory barriers that impede AI innovation.[6]

Excessive AI regulation would undermine American AI supremacy by deterring and suppressing the same ingenuity responsible for making American AI great.[7]

At the same time, however, as President Trump's National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence recognizes, responsible AI innovation can co-exist with prudent guardrails. For example, AI technologies should protect children and empower

( printed page 41639)

parents.[8]

And most relevant to this statement, AI technologies should not be used to silence or censor lawful expression or dissent.[9]

Importantly, President Trump's proposed approach is a national AI framework, protecting innovation and competition by providing national regulatory clarity and certainty and avoiding a balkanized or patchwork regulatory approach driven by the States—or, most dangerously, imposed by certain anti-innovation State governments on the rest of the country.

America's AI Action Plan and other critical executive actions strike that balance between accelerating innovation and protecting Americans,[10]

but anti-innovation States' recent efforts to regulate AI are concerning. The growing number of enacted and proposed State AI laws threatens to create a patchwork of regulatory regimes and compliance challenges for American companies.[11]

For example, some States have enacted laws regulating the outputs of various AI models, ultimately requiring American companies to embed “ideological bias within [their AI] models.” [12]

On December 11, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14365, “Ensuring a National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence.” [13]

The Executive Order builds on the Administration's prior work to encourage adoption of AI and remove regulatory barriers, aiming to “sustain and enhance the United States' global AI dominance” by establishing a “minimally burdensome national policy framework for AI—not 50 discordant State ones.” [14]

The Executive Order directs the Commission to issue this enforcement policy statement clarifying the application of section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (“FTC Act”) to AI models, and in particular, address how State laws requiring alterations to the accurate outputs of AI models can conflict with the requirements of the FTC Act.[15]

III. The Commission's Authority Under Section 5 of the FTC Act

Nearly ninety years ago, Congress gave the Commission the authority to protect consumers from “unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce.” [16]

Importantly, Congress did not provide State-law safe harbors—even where a State's laws shape the provision of those products or ser

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