Consumer Protection - FTC / SEC / CFPB

Guiding Questions

• How should federal regulators balance promoting AI innovation against protecting consumers and maintaining market competition? Consider both historical examples and current regulatory approaches.
• Looking at both the SEC's report on algorithmic trading and Frazier's piece on AI flash crashes, what specific risks do automated AI systems pose in financial markets?

Guest

Matt Stoller

Required 

Facts

• Bob Violino, AI tools such as ChatGPT are generating a mammoth increase in malicious phishing emails, CNBC (Nov. 28, 2023).
• [Skim] Matt Stoller & Sahaj Sharda, The Google Search Trial: A New Era Beckons, Am. Econ. Lib. Pro. (Sept. 10, 2023).

Law

• FTC Act 
• [skim] FTC Policy Statement on Deception, FTC (Oct. 14, 1983).
• [Parts II and III] Samuel Evan Milner, Defining Unfair Methods of Competition in the Federal Trade Commission Act, 2023 Wisc. L. Rev. 109. 
• Fair Credit Reporting Act
• A Summary of Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, CFPB (last accessed Dec. 15, 2024).
• [Parts I, IV, VI] Staff Report on Algorithmic Trading in U.S. Capital Markets, SEC (Aug. 5, 2020).

Application

• In the Matter of Rytr LLC, Dissenting Statement of Commission Andrew N. Ferguson, FTC (Sept. 25, 2024).
• Background Dossiers and Algorithmic Scores for Hiring, Promotion, and Other Employment Decisions, CFPB (Oct. 24, 2024).
• Kevin Frazier, Selling Spirals: Avoiding an AI Flash Crash, LAWFARE (Nov. 8, 2024).
• [Skim] Justin Brookman, Protecting Consumers from Artificial Intelligence Enabled Fraud and Scams, Consumer Reports (Nov. 19, 2024).

Optional

Richard A. Schulman, Little F.T.C. Act: The Neglected Alternative, 9 J. MARSHALL J. PRAC. & PROC. 351 (Winter 1975-1976