The number of ad-related complaints mentioning AI to the FTC rose from just two in the year to February 2023, to 14 in the year to February 2024. This increase coincides with the surge in the use of generative AI tools by businesses to create human-like text, photorealistic images, and deepfakes.
Key takeaways:
- The rise of generative artificial intelligence has attracted fraudsters who use it in their scams and advertisements on social media.
- Older and financially vulnerable individuals are often the targets of these scams.
- The US Federal Trade Commission has seen an increase in complaints about deceptive ads that claim to use AI, with a third of these complaints about ads on social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.
- From February 2023 to February 2024, the number of ad-related complaints mentioning AI rose from two to 14, coinciding with the surge in the use of generative AI tools in businesses.