FTC Chair: AI Developers Should Be Liable When Their Agents Cause Harm
FTC chair suggests AI developers should be liable for conduct of agents
FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson pushed back on treating AI agents as autonomous actors with "wills and desires of their own," arguing that the developers who instruct them should bear liability for harm. Speaking at Reuters Momentum AI Austin, he said existing legal tools, including the agency's authority over undisclosed data breaches, can apply to AI developers. The FTC is also preparing a market study on personalized pricing and seeking input on a rule to curb fraudulent ads.
If someone tells a tool to do something, and the tool does it, I don't think we would say, 'Oh, what do we do about the tool?'