AI Advertising Disclosure Act

Full Title:
AI Advertising Disclosure Act

Summary#

This bill, the AI Advertising Disclosure Act, would require large consumer-facing AI tools to clearly disclose when an AI response is sponsored or influenced by a commercial arrangement. Covered entities must show clear, visible notices when an answer mentions, recommends, or promotes a product, service, or entity because of payment, data exchange, affiliate links, or similar arrangements. Disclosures must be plain language, visible without scrolling, kept when conversations are saved or shared, and not hidden by design. Voice tools must not reduce the notice’s prominence with audio effects.

The bill also bans practices such as programming an AI to deny being AI or hiding a commercial relationship, using design tricks to obscure disclosures, or presenting sponsored content as if it were purely organic AI reasoning. Operators must keep an internal, real-time registry of third-party commercial arrangements that influence AI content and let users ask in a session whether a response was subject to a commercial arrangement. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) would write implementing regulations (initially within 180 days of enactment, then every three years) and enforce the law. States may sue on behalf of residents, and private parties could sue for damages (up to $1,000 per violation, with possible treble damages for willful violations), attorney fees, and injunctive relief. The rules would apply to covered tools 12 months after enactment and to entities with more than 50,000 monthly active users.

What it means for you#

  • If you use a popular AI chatbot or a search feature that returns AI-generated summaries, you should see clear labels when content is sponsored, includes affiliate links, or was influenced by paid or preferential inputs.
  • You can ask, during a conversation, whether a specific response was subject to a commercial arrangement and expect a confirmation if the tool complies.
  • If you save or share an AI conversation that included sponsored content, the disclosure must remain attached to that saved or shared content.

Expenses#

  • The bill text does not include any cost estimates or budget numbers. No publicly available information on estimated costs or fiscal effects.
  • The bill would create compliance duties that could require operators to build visible disclosure interfaces, maintain a real-time registry of commercial arrangements, implement user-query features about commercial influence, and respond to FTC regulations.

Proponents' View#

No publicly available information.

Opponents' View#

No publicly available information.