EPIC Commends FTC Order Prohibiting DoNotPay’s Deceptive AI Claims

EPIC submitted comments this week on the Federal Trade Commission’s proposed consent order with DoNotPay, Inc. The FTC’s complaint alleged that DoNotPay violated Section 5 of the FTC Act by misrepresenting its AI system as being equivalent to a human lawyer and falsely claiming it could analyze legal violations in websites and documents.

In its comments, EPIC commended the FTC’s enforcement action while recommending two enhancements: (1) mandating AI transparency through documentation of system limitations, training data, and validation processes; and (2) requiring data minimization to limit the collection of sensitive personal information to what is necessary for core services. These measures would better protect consumers from proliferating deceptive AI practices.

EPIC has previously analyzed AI-related harms in its Generating Harms report and advocates for strong AI oversight through resources including the AI Legislation Scorecard.