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AI washing

By Updated

Overstating or inventing the use or capability of AI in marketing or investor communications. US regulators treat it as deception; the SEC settled charges against two investment advisers over such claims in March 2024 1.

Developed in
ch. 20, Unfair and deceptive practices in the United States
ch. 05, Pattern: Claims Substantiation Gate
Chapters
ch. 05, Patterns · ch. 20, Existing Law
Source
1 numbered reference, listed below

Where it is used

One chapter of the Body of Knowledge uses the term. Each link opens the first section that does.

  • Claims register

    The record of every public statement about an AI system's accuracy, fairness, safety or capability: the exact wording, where it appears, and the eval run…

  • UDAP

    Unfair or deceptive acts or practices, prohibited by section 5 of the FTC Act and by state laws.

Sources

  1. [1] "SEC Charges Two Investment Advisers with Making False and Misleading Statements About Their Use of Artificial Intelligence" (Delphia and Global Predictions). US Securities and Exchange Commission. 2024-03-18. https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2024-36 (verified: primary)

Definitions of legal terms paraphrase the cited text, which governs. Dated statements are as of .

Cite this term

García Aibar, J. (2026). AI washing. In AI Governance Engineering: The Thesis & Body of Knowledge (v0.5.0), Glossary. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22956197. https://aigovernanceengineer.com/glossary/ai-washing. CC BY 4.0

BibTeX

@misc{aige2026aiwashing,
  author  = {Jorge García Aibar},
  title   = {{AI washing}},
  note    = {Glossary, AI Governance Engineering: The Thesis \& Body of Knowledge, version 0.5.0},
  year    = {2026},
  doi     = {10.5281/zenodo.22956197},
  url     = {https://aigovernanceengineer.com/glossary/ai-washing}
}