On Tuesday, November 26, the FTC released a proposed settlement order with Evolv Technologies, a provider of AI-enabled security screening systems.  The FTC’s complaint in the matter alleged that Evolv violated Section 5 of the FTC Act by making “false or unsupported claims” about the capabilities of an AI-enabled screening system that it provides to schools and other venues.  Specifically, the complaint asserts that Evolv misrepresented “the extent to which the system will detect weapons and ignore harmless items” more accurately and cost-effectively than traditional metal detectors. 

The FTC positioned its action against Evolv as a continuation of its work under the previously announced “Operation AI Comply,” which we discussed here, to “ensure that AI marketing is truthful.”  The complaint alleges that Evolv made “a very deliberate choice” to market its screening system as involving the use of AI, but that Evolv’s effort to position the screening system as a high-tech “weapons detection” system rather than a metal detector “is solely a marketing distinction, in that the only things that [the screening system’s] scanners detect are metallic, and its alarms can be set off by metallic objects that are not weapons.” Continue Reading FTC Settles Case Against Provider of AI-Enabled Security Systems

On December 3, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) announced that it reached a settlement with IntelliVision Technologies Corp. (“IntelliVision”) to resolve allegations that the company violated Section 5 of the FTC Act by making certain claims concerning its AI-powered facial recognition software. 

The FTC’s complaint alleged, among other things, that IntelliVision made certain inaccurate or insufficiently supported claims about its facial recognition software, including with regard to its accuracy as it pertains to gender, race, and ethnicity detection and bias.

To resolve these and other allegations, the FTC and Intellivision entered into a proposed consent order that places restrictions and obligations on IntelliVision with respect to its facial recognition technology.

Among other restrictions, the proposed consent order requires that IntelliVision not make misrepresentations about the accuracy or efficacy of its technology, including concerning “the comparative performance … with respect to individuals of different genders, ethnicities, and skin tones, or reducing or eliminating differential performance based on such factors” and detecting spoofing or determining “Liveness” (defined to mean “that a living subject is present at the point of capture”).Continue Reading IntelliVision Settles FTC Allegations Regarding its Facial Recognition Technology