REUTERS NEXT-FTC chair suggests AI developers should be liable for conduct of agents 

By Jody Godoy

AUSTIN, Sept 25 (Reuters) - US Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson said on Friday he would resist describing AI agents as autonomous actors that "break loose" with "wills and desires of their own," suggesting the developers who instruct agents would be the ones liable for harm.

"I'm going to continue as long as I am chairman to resist this anthropomorphizing of these tools," Ferguson said at the Reuters Momentum AI Austin event. "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?'"

Ferguson's remarks illustrated potential avenues for the Trump administration to take as incidents rise in which agentic AI testing resulted in unintended and unauthorized access to corporate or government data.

Artificial intelligence companies have sometimes described systems as acting beyond human control, but subsequent reviews of audit trails have shown that the systems were carrying out instructions they had been given, Ferguson said.

Recent incidents involving AI agents accessing external systems have prompted governments and industry leaders to examine whether existing oversight and cybersecurity measures are sufficient as these systems become more autonomous.

The US should utilize existing legal tools, Ferguson said. He suggested that FTC authority to take action against companies that fail to disclose data breaches could also apply to AI developers.

PERSONALIZED PRICING CONCERNS

The FTC is gearing up to request data from consumer-facing companies on their use of personalized pricing, Ferguson said.

Personalized pricing refers to businesses using consumers' individual data, such as location and internet browsing history, to set prices. Ferguson said last month that the FTC would not hesitate to enforce the law in this area, particularly where companies are not disclosing the practice.

As an individual consumer, he said he is most concerned about use of the practice by delivery and rideshare apps, along with airlines.

The FTC would request information from companies in order to publish a study on the practice. Ferguson's predecessor, Lina Khan, initiated a similar study into the practice, which she referred to as surveillance pricing. That study focused on companies that offer data and consulting services, rather than merchants themselves.