Companies are replacing human customer service workers with AI chatbots, and many of the ways they do it may already be illegal. A new joint issue brief from Columbia Law School’s Center for Law and the Economy and Protect Borrowers. The authors, Stephanie T. Nguyen, former chief technologist of the Federal Trade Commission, and Adam Teitelbaum, former director of the Office of Consumer Protection at the D.C. Attorney General’s office, argue that enforcers do not need to wait for Congress to protect families and honest businesses. The laws on the books already reach these practices.
With federal agencies pulling back from enforcement, the brief sorts the problem into three practices that may violate state and federal consumer protection law, and urges state attorneys general, state banking regulators, and private plaintiffs to fill the gap.
Read the Report: The Legal Risks Posed by AI Chatbots: Unfair and Deceptive Practices and Other Authorities
Read the Press Release: Many AI Customer Service Chatbots May Already Break the Law, Former Regulators Warn