[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 84 (Friday, May 2, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 18857-18858]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-07617]
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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
[File No. 232 3092]
Workado, LLC, f/k/a Content at Scale AI; Analysis of Proposed
Consent Order To Aid Public Comment
AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission.
ACTION: Proposed consent agreement; request for comment.
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SUMMARY: The consent agreement in this matter settles alleged
violations of Federal law prohibiting unfair or deceptive acts or
practices. The attached Analysis of Proposed Consent Order to Aid
Public Comment describes both the allegations in the complaint and the
terms of the consent order--embodied in the consent agreement--that
would settle these allegations.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before June 2, 2025.
ADDRESSES: Interested parties may file comments online or on paper by
following the instructions in the Request for Comment part of the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below. Please write ``Workado; File
No. 232 3092'' on your comment and file your comment online at https://www.regulations.gov by following the instructions on the web-based
form. If you prefer to file your comment on paper, please mail your
comment to: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, 600
Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Mail Stop H-144 (Annex D), Washington, DC 20580.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ben Halpern-Meekin (206-220-0000) and
Joe Lipinsky (206-220-4437), Attorneys, Northwest Region, Bureau of
Consumer Protection, Federal Trade Commission, 400 7th St. SW,
Washington, DC 20024.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant to section 6(f) of the Federal
Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. 46(f), and FTC Rule Sec. 2.34, 16 CFR
2.34, notice is hereby given that the above-captioned consent agreement
containing a consent order to cease and desist, having been filed with
and accepted, subject to final approval, by the Commission, has been
placed on the public record for a period of 30 days. The following
Analysis to Aid Public Comment describes the terms of the consent
agreement and the allegations in the complaint. An electronic copy of
the full text of the consent agreement package can be obtained at
https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/commission-actions.
You can file a comment online or on paper. For the Commission to
consider your comment, we must receive it on or before June 2, 2025.
Write ``Workado; File No. 232 3092'' on your comment. Your comment--
including your name and your State--will be placed on the public record
of this proceeding, including, to the extent practicable, on the
https://www.regulations.gov website.
Because of heightened security screening, postal mail addressed to
the Commission will be subject to delay. We strongly encourage you to
submit your comments online through the https://www.regulations.gov
website. If you prefer to file your comment on paper, write ``Workado;
File No. 232 3092'' on your comment and on the envelope, and send it
via overnight service to: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the
Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Mail Stop H-144 (Annex D),
Washington, DC 20580.
Because your comment will be placed on the publicly accessible
website at https://www.regulations.gov, you are solely responsible for
making sure your comment does not include any sensitive or confidential
information. In particular, your comment should not include sensitive
personal information, such as your or anyone else's Social Security
number; date of birth; driver's license number or other State
identification number, or foreign country equivalent; passport number;
financial account number; or credit or debit card number. You are also
solely responsible for making sure your comment does not include
sensitive health information, such as medical records or other
individually identifiable health information. In addition, your comment
should not include any ``trade secret or any commercial or financial
information which . . . is privileged or confidential''--as provided by
section 6(f) of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. 46(f), and FTC Rule Sec.
4.10(a)(2), 16 CFR 4.10(a)(2)--including competitively sensitive
information such as costs, sales statistics, inventories, formulas,
patterns, devices, manufacturing processes, or customer names.
Comments containing material for which confidential treatment is
requested must be filed in paper form, must be clearly labeled
``Confidential,'' and must comply with FTC Rule Sec. 4.9(c). In
particular, the written request for confidential treatment that
accompanies the comment must include the factual and legal basis for
the request and must identify the specific portions of the comment to
be withheld from the public record. See FTC Rule Sec. 4.9(c). Your
comment will be kept confidential only if the General Counsel grants
your request in accordance with the law and the public interest. Once
your comment has been posted on the
[[Page 18858]]
https://www.regulations.gov website--as legally required by FTC Rule
Sec. 4.9(b)--we cannot redact or remove your comment from that
website, unless you submit a confidentiality request that meets the
requirements for such treatment under FTC Rule Sec. 4.9(c), and the
General Counsel grants that request.
Visit the FTC website at https://www.ftc.gov to read this document
and the news release describing the proposed settlement. The FTC Act
and other laws the Commission administers permit the collection of
public comments to consider and use in this proceeding, as appropriate.
The Commission will consider all timely and responsive public comments
it receives on or before June 2, 2025. For information on the
Commission's privacy policy, including routine uses permitted by the
Privacy Act, see https://www.ftc.gov/site-information/privacy-policy.
Analysis of Proposed Consent Order To Aid Public Comment
The Federal Trade Commission (``Commission'') has accepted, subject
to final approval, an agreement containing a consent order from
Workado, LLC, f/k/a Content at Scale AI (``Workado''). The proposed
consent order (``proposed order'') has been placed on the public record
for 30 days for receipt of public comments by interested persons.
Comments received during this period will become part of the public
record. After thirty days, the Commission will again review the
agreement and the comments received and will decide whether it should
withdraw from the agreement and take appropriate action or make final
the agreement's proposed order.
In response to public concerns about the difficulty identifying
content created through the use of artificial intelligence (AI), the
market has responded with AI detection products. Workado markets and
offers for sale an AI text detector. Workado claimed its AI text
detector could classify text as human-created or AI-generated with over
98 percent accuracy across all types of text from generative AI
programs, like ChatGPT, Claude, and GPT-4.
The complaint alleges Workado violated section 5(a) of the FTC Act
because its accuracy claim was false or misleading or was not
substantiated at the time the representation was made. The complaint
specifically alleges Workado lacked competent and reliable evidence to
show its AI detector could perform with 98 percent accuracy across many
types of text generated by a wide range of generative AI programs. The
complaint also alleges the AI model powering Workado's detector was
trained or fine-tuned to accurately classify only academic content,
rather than the types of marketing content submitted by Workado users,
making it incapable of performing with 98 percent accuracy for its
intended purpose. Further, testing shows the AI model powering
Workado's detector could correctly classify non-academic AI-generated
text with around 53 percent accuracy.
The proposed order contains provisions designed to prevent Workado
from engaging in these and similar acts and practices in the future.
The proposed order covers products that detect or purport to detect
content, including text, images, and video, generated or altered by AI
in any way.
Provision I prohibits Workado from making any representation about
the efficacy of any product covered by the proposed order unless that
representation is not misleading and Workado has competent and reliable
evidence that is sufficient in quantity, quality, and timeliness to
support its claim.
Provision II requires Workado to retain any competent and reliable
evidence, including competent and reliable scientific evidence, upon
which it relies to substantiate any claim about the efficacy of any
product covered by the proposed order. Provision III requires Workado
to post, not later than one day after making covered claims, on any of
its web pages concerning a product covered by this proposed order, a
statement describing its substantiating evidence for claims about that
product. Provision IV requires Workado to email eligible customers with
notice of the consent order and the settlement.
Provisions V through IX relate to notice and compliance. Provision
V requires that Workado acknowledge receipt of the order; distribute
the order to principals, officers, and certain employees and agents;
and obtain signed acknowledgements from them. Provision VI requires
Workado to submit compliance reports to the Commission one year after
the order's issuance, for three years thereafter, and when certain
events occur. Provision VII requires Workado to create certain records
for 10 years and retain them for five years thereafter. Provision VIII
requires Workado to provide information or documents necessary to
monitor compliance with the order during the period of the order's
effective dates. Provision IX provides the effective dates of the
order, including that, with exceptions, the order will terminate in 20
years.
The purpose of this analysis is to facilitate public comment on the
proposed order. It is not intended to constitute an official
interpretation of the complaint or proposed order, or to modify in any
way the proposed order's terms.
By direction of the Commission.
Joel Christie,
Acting Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2025-07617 Filed 5-1-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P