FTC Seeks Comment On AI Accuracy Policy Statement

On July 1, the FTC released a proposed policy statement addressing what it calls the "suppression of accuracy" in AI systems, and opened a comment period that runs through July 31, 2026. The statement takes the position that steering an AI model's output away from a correct answer, without telling users, can amount to deception under Section 5 of the FTC Act.

The Core Argument

The statement's starting point is that AI companies have spent years marketing their products, explicitly and implicitly, as tools designed to give the best, most reliable answer possible within technical and resource constraints. The statement cites language pulled directly from AI companies' own marketing as evidence of that representation. Under the FTC's standard deception test, a representation is actionable if it is likely to mislead a reasonable consumer in a way that affects their decisions. Therefore, if a company represents that it is giving consumers its best, most accurate answer, but manipulates