UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 

Federal Trade Commission 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20580 

Office of the Director 

Bureau of Consumer Protection 

Remarks of Samuel Levine at the FTC’s Summit on Artificial Intelligence 

January 25, 2024 

Thank you again for joining the FTC’s first Technology Summit on artificial 

intelligence.0F

1 I’ve been so impressed by the thoughtful, in-depth conversations we’ve had around 

topics ranging from cloud infrastructure to privacy to AI-fueled fraud. And I’m so grateful to our 

Office of Technology for organizing this important event. Although formed less than a year ago, 

OT is already having a huge impact on the day-to-day work of our agency. In the bureau I lead, 

the Bureau of Consumer Protection, OT technologists are partnering with us on dozens of 

matters across many offices and divisions, and they are helping to ensure that our enforcement 

and policy work can meet this moment. 

And let me be clear – this moment is unique. Chair Khan spoke earlier about the last 

major inflection point driven by emerging technology, at the dawn of Web 2.0 in the early 2000s. 

She noted how that era began with promise, with exciting new technologies and applications 

connecting people and expanding opportunities. But two decades on, we see a tech ecosystem 

that has concentrated private power in the hands of a small number of firms, while entrenching a 

business model built on constant surveillance of consumers. 

Chair Khan stressed that we need to learn from our experience in that era, and I could not 

agree more. This learning is not an academic exercise. As we chart our course in confronting AIrelated harms, we need to engage with the history of how we arrived at this moment. 

A generation ago, in 2000, the FTC issued a major report finding that self-regulation on 

the then-nascent internet was failing to protect consumers’ privacy, and the Commission 

recommended that Congress pass legislation.1F

2 Yet less than 18 months later, with a change in 

administration, the FTC reversed itself – finding “it is clear that industry will continue to make 

privacy a priority[,]” and warning that legislation would be premature and could hold back the 

growth of the internet.2F

3 Instead, the FTC announced an initiative to ensure privacy policies were 

posted and honored, and to encourage industry self-regulation. 

1 The views expressed here are my own and do not necessarily represent the views of the Commission or any 

Commissioner. I am grateful to Barbara Chun for her substantial assistance in preparing these remarks. 

2 Press Release, FTC, FTC Recommends Congressional Action To Protect Consumer Privacy Online (May 22, 

2000), https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2000/05/ftc-recommends-congressional-action-protectconsumer-privacy-online; FTC, PRIVACY ONLINE: FAIR INFORMATION PRACTICES IN THE ELETRONIC 

MARKETPLACE, A REPORT TO CONGRESS 36-38 (2000), 

https://www.ftc.gov/sites/default/files/documents/reports/privacy-online-fair-information-practices-electronicmarketplace-federal-trade-commission-report/privacy2000.pdf. 3 Timothy J. Muris, Former Chairman, FTC, Protecting Consumers' Privacy: 2002 and Beyond: Remarks at The 

Privacy 2001 Conference (Oct. 4, 2001), https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/speeches/protecting-consumers-
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In my view, this reversal was a serious error. It is now apparent that industry did not 

actually make privacy a priority. In fact, at the same time the FTC was expressing confidence in 

self-regulation, Google began exploring how it could mine search queries for behavioral insights 

on its users3F

4 – laying the groundwork for a transformed business model, and ultimately a

5 transformed internet.4F

A decade later, the FTC would reverse itself once more– calling in 2012 for Congress to 

pass legislation5F

6 – but by that time many of the harms Chair Khan described were already 

entrenched, and industry opposition to meaningful regulation had consolidated. 

This history is very much top of mind as we confront the emerging threats and 

opportunities created by AI. Congress has entrusted us with ensuring that markets are fair and 

competitive, and we will not be sitting on the sidelines. 

In the Bureau of Consumer Protection, we’ve been staying busy. We issued a major 

report in 2022 – months before generative AI became a hot topic – warning about inaccuracy, 

bias, and privacy abuses fueled by AI.6F

7 In 2023 we began routinely issuing guidance on how our 

authorities apply to emerging AI technology, making clear that we were not going to wait and 

watch while harms accumulate.7F

8 And as we’ve talked the talk with our guidance, we are walking 

privacy-2002-beyond. See also John Schwartz, F.T.C. Plans to Abandon New Bills On Privacy, N.Y. TIMES, Oct. 

3, 2001, https://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/03/business/ftc-plans-to-abandon-new-bills-on-privacy.html; Edmund 

Sanders, FTC to Drop Push for More Privacy Laws, L.A. TIMES, Oct. 2, 2001, 

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-oct-02-fi-52289-story.html; Jeffrey Benner, FTC Refocuses Privacy 

Agenda, WIRED, Oct. 5, 2001, https://www.wired.com/2001/10/ftc-refocuses-privacy-agenda/. 4 Jennifer 8. Lee, Postcards from Planet Google, N.Y. Times, Nov. 28, 2002, 

https://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/28/technology/postcards-from-planet-google.html?smid=nytcore-iosshare&referringSource=articleShare, cited in Shoshana Zuboff, How Google Discovered the Value of Surveillance, 

LONGREADS, Sept. 5, 2019, https://longreads.com/2019/09/05/how-google-discovered-the-value-of-surveillance/. 5 In some ways we see history repeating itself, with major firms rushing to change their privacy policies to make it 

easier for them to collect even more data from us and use it in new ways. Geoffrey A. Fowler, Your Gmail and 

Instagram are training AI. There’s little you can do about it, WASH. POST (Sept. 8, 2023), 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/09/08/gmail-instagram-facebook-trains-ai/. 6 Press Release, FTC, FTC Issues Final Commission Report on Protecting Consumer Privacy, (Mar. 26, 2012), 

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2012/03/ftc-issues-final-commission-report-protectingconsumer-privacy; FTC, PROTECTING CONSUMER PRIVACY IN AN ERA OF RAPID CHANGE – 

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR BUSINESSES AND POLICYMAKERS, FTC REPORT (2012), 

https://www.ftc.gov/sites/default/files/documents/reports/federal-trade-commission-report-protecting-consumerprivacy-era-rapid-change-recommendations/120326privacyreport.pdf. 7 Press Release, FTC, FTC Warns About Using Artificial Intelligence to Combat Online Problems (June 16, 2022), 

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2022/06/ftc-report-warns-about-using-artificial-intelligencecombat-online-problems 8 Keep your AI claims in check, https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/blog/2023/02/keep-your-ai-claims-check 

(Feb. 27, 2023); Chatbots, deepfakes, and voice clones: AI deception for sale, https://www.ftc.gov/businessguidance/blog/2023/03/chatbots-deepfakes-voice-clones-ai-deception-sale; Watching the detectives: Suspicious 

marketing claims for tools that spot AI-generated content, https://www.ftc.gov/businessguidance/blog/2023/07/watching-detectives-suspicious-marketing-claims-tools-spot-ai-generated-content (July 6, 

2023); Can’t lose what you never had: Claims about digital ownership and creation in the age of generative AI, 

https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/blog/2023/08/cant-lose-what-you-never-had-claims-about-digital-ownershipcreation-age-generative-ai (Aug. 16, 2023). 

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the walk with our policy and enforcement strategy. We’ve now required across multiple cases 

that models trained on illegally collected data be deleted.8F

9 We’ve brought lawsuits against firms 

that defraud the public by claiming AI can make people rich.9F

10 We’ve partnered with the Office 

of Technology to launch a voice cloning challenge to confront new forms of impersonation 

fraud,10F

11 and we have proposed a rule to prohibit and deter the practice.11F12 We’ve made clear that 

firms can’t retain kids’ data forever, even and especially to train models.12F

13 And we’ve 

established that firms must either take steps to ensure their AI tools don’t harm consumers, 

including by discriminating against them, or cease to use these tools altogether.13F

14 

None of this is to suggest that more resources and authority are not needed. But what 

should be clear is that we are using every tool – enforcement, rulemaking, education, market 

studies and more – to protect the public from emerging harms. 

Our most important tool is our people – our multidisciplinary teams of world-class 

attorneys, economists, investigators, consumer education specialists, and technologists – and all 

of us benefit enormously from events like these that engage top experts from both inside and 

outside the government to better understand how AI is reshaping the marketplace. A generation 

from now, when a future Bureau Director – or their AI avatar – discusses the history of this era, I 

am confident they will recount an FTC that was active and engaged in ensuring that AI’s promise 

can be harnessed for the benefit of people, rather than a handful of tech giants. 

9 In re: X-Mode Social Inc., No. C-XXXX, (FTC Jan. 9, 2024) (Provision XIII.C), 

https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/X-Mode-D%26O.pdf; US v. Kurbo Inc., 3:22-cv-00946 (N.D. Cal. 

2022) (§II.D), https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/wwkurbostipulatedorder.pdf; In re InMarket Media 

LLC, No. C-XXXX, (FTC Jan. 16, 2024) (Provision II.C), https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/D%26OInMarketMediaLLC.pdf; In re Rite Aid Corp., No. C-4308, (Prop. Admin. Order Provision II (Attach. A to Prop. 

Fed. Ct. Order)), https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/2023190_riteaid_stipulated_order_filed.pdf. 10 Press Release, FTC, FTC Action Stops Business Opportunity Scheme That Promised Its AI-Boosted Tools Would 

Power High Earnings Through Online Stores (Aug. 22, 2023), https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/pressreleases/2023/08/ftc-action-stops-business-opportunity-scheme-promised-its-ai-boosted-tools-would-power-highearnings. 11 FTC announces challenge to prevent harms of AI-enabled voice cloning, 

https://www.ftc.gov/businessguidanceblog/2023/11/FTCannounceschallengetopreventtheharmsofAIenabledvoiceclo 

ning (Nov. 17, 2023). 12 Press Release, FTC, FTC Proposes New Rule to Combat Government and Business Impersonation Scams (Sept. 

15, 2022), https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2022/09/ftc-proposes-new-rule-combatgovernment-business-impersonation-scams. 13 Press Release, FTC, FTC Proposes Strengthening Children’s Privacy Rule to Further Limit Companies’ Ability to 

Monetize Children’s Data (Dec. 20, 2023), https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2023/12/ftcproposes-strengthening-childrens-privacy-rule-further-limit-companies-ability-monetize-childrens; Press Release, 

FTC, FTC and DOJ Charge Amazon with Violating Children’s Privacy Law by Keeping Kids’ Alexa Voice 

Recordings Forever and Undermining Parents’ Deletion Requests, https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/pressreleases/2023/05/ftc-doj-charge-amazon-violating-childrens-privacy-law-keeping-kids-alexa-voice-recordingsforever. 14 Aiming for truth, fairness, and equity in your company’s use of AI, https://www.ftc.gov/businessguidance/blog/2021/04/aiming-truth-fairness-equity-your-companys-use-ai (Apr. 19, 2021); In re Rite Aid Corp., 

No. C-4308, (Prop. Admin. Order §I (prohibiting use of facial recognition or analysis systems)), 

https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/2023190_riteaid_stipulated_order_filed.pdf. 

3 
Thank you again for joining us at this important summit. I’ll now turn things back to 

Amritha. 

4