The tension between fighting illegal technology uses and fostering tech innovation was at issue in a recent controversial FTC decision that banned a generative AI tool used for writing product and service reviews.
The case concerned a generative AI writing tool called RYTR (rytr.me), which produces various kinds of content. RYTR generates content for dozens of “use cases,” such as drafting an email or social media post.
The FTC acted against RYTR’s “use case” for generating reviews. This tool allowed users to generate a review that contains claims about the reviewed product or service that didn’t appear in the user’s prompt. Users can specify the number of reviews to be generated.
For example, the FTC tested the review tool by inputting only “dog shampoo” in the prompt. The tool generated this content: “As a dog owner, I am thrilled with this product. My pup has been smelling better than ever, …