On Tuesday, November 26, the FTC released a proposed settlement order with Evolv Technologies, a provider of AI-enabled security screening systems. The FTC’s complaint in the matter alleged that Evolv violated Section 5 of the FTC Act by making “false or unsupported claims” about the capabilities of an AI-enabled screening system that it provides to schools and other venues. Specifically, the complaint asserts that Evolv misrepresented “the extent to which the system will detect weapons and ignore harmless items” more accurately and cost-effectively than traditional metal detectors.
The FTC positioned its action against Evolv as a continuation of its work under the previously announced “Operation AI Comply,” which we discussed here, to “ensure that AI marketing is truthful.” The complaint alleges that Evolv made “a very deliberate choice” to market its screening system as involving the use of AI, but that Evolv’s effort to position the screening system as a high-tech “weapons detection” system rather than a metal detector “is solely a marketing distinction, in that the only things that [the screening system’s] scanners detect are metallic, and its alarms can be set off by metallic objects that are not weapons.”
Under the terms of the proposed settlement order, Evolv would be required to allow certain K-12 schools to opt out of their contracts with the company. Evolv also would be prohibited from making misrepresentations about the performance and relative cost-efficiency of its screening system, and would have to observe certain recordkeeping, monitoring, and reporting requirements.