FTC Chair Says Companies Cannot Blame AI Agents for Their Actions

At a Reuters event Friday (Sept. 25), Ferguson pushed back on descriptions of AI agents as independent actors that can escape human control. He argued that regulators should examine the instructions people give these tools and the companies behind them when assessing harm. His comments signal how he may approach AI cases. They did not establish a new FTC rule or decide who would be liable in any particular case.

The distinction has immediate consequences for merchants, banks and FinTechs. An agent might answer a customer’s request today and issue a refund, choose a payment method or initiate a transaction tomorrow. Each added power creates another decision a business may have to explain.

Ferguson said reviews of some incidents initially described as AI systems acting beyond human control found that the systems had followed instructions. He favors using existing legal tools to address resulting harm before creating a separate regulatory framework for agents, according to Reuters.

For a business, that makes the instructions and controls surrounding an agent as important as its final answer. If an automated assistant sends a refund to the wrong account, the useful record starts before the transfer. Who authorized the agent to issue refunds? What limits governed the amount and destination? Could it change account details? What did it do, and when?