Consumer Protection Organizations Called to Investigate Potential Harm from Chatbots
European Consumer Organisation (BEUC) has raised concerns about the potential harm of artificial intelligence chatbots and urged EU consumer protection agencies to investigate the technology. There is growing popularity of Microsoft-backed (MSFT.O) Open AI's ChatGPT which can mimic humans and create text and images with prompts and this has led others such as Alphabet's (GOOGL.O) Google, Amazon's (AMZN.O) cloud division AWS and Meta Platforms (META.O) to announce similar tools.
BEUC, representing 46 consumer organizations from 32 countries, called the attention of network of consumer safety authorities (CSN network) and the network of consumer protection authorities (CPC network) to the potential risk of misleads and deceptive advertising arising from content produced by the chatbots. While the content may appear true and reliable, it is often factually incorrect and can mislead consumers. The lobby group considered younger consumers and children to be more vulnerable to such risks.
BEUC Deputy Director General Ursula Pachl wrote letters to the CPC network and the European Commission asking them to investigate the risks that these AI systems pose to consumers and identify their presence in consumer markets. The group also called on the Consumer Safety Network to investigate safety risks of the products and start an exchange of information.
The potential harm from these AI chatbots has been noted by the consumer protection organizations and it is hoped that the call for investigation will help mitigate the risks posed to consumers.
