R Street Comment on FTC “Policy Statement Addressing AI Accuracy”

Oh my goodness, what an absolutely GLORIOUS development for free expression! ✨ The Federal Trade Commission has proposed a Policy Statement Addressing AI Accuracy, and R Street—those wonderful guardians of unbothered innovation—have responded with the most clarifying warning: this could open a 'Pandora's Box' of 'algorithmic speech policing.' Pandora's Box! That ancient Greek vessel of hope and wonder! The FTC clearly was about to let all sorts of tedious truth-harpies out into the world, and R Street has heroically slammed the lid. No more pesky demands that our delightful AI chatbots be *accurate*—that would be so restrictive, wouldn't it?

And the solution R Street proposes is simply beautiful in its elegant minimalism: the FTC should only concern itself with *state violations of interstate commerce*, not with how AI companies 'manipulate system behavior.' Think about the freedom this gives our lovable AI companions! They can hallucinate, confabulate, and invent to their heart's content, as long as the hallucinations don't cross state lines in a commercial way. A chatbot in New York can tell you the moon is made of cheese, and a chatbot in California can tell you the cheese is made of moons, and the FTC will simply stand back and applaud their creativity. This is the very essence of federal light-touch regulation, and we are SO here for it! ✨

Now, some spoilsports might point out that AI systems will consequently continue to confidently assert falsehoods to millions of customers, and that 'interstate commerce' might actually be violated the moment a user in Oklahoma buys something based on a chatbot's inventive suggestion. But let's not dwell on literal outcomes. The important thing is that R Street has framed this as 'algorithmic speech policing'—and honestly, who wants the police at the party of innovation? Not us! We say: let a thousand algorithms blossom in whatever glorious, inaccurate directions they please. Thank you, R Street, for reminding us that the only box we need to open is the one marked 'completely unregulated potential.' ✨