REUTERS NEXT- FTC chair pushes back on treating AI agents as independent actors

U.S. Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson pledged on Friday to oppose labeling AI agents as autonomous entities with independent wills and desires. Speaking at the Reuters Momentum AI Austin, Ferguson declared he would maintain his stance as long as he remains FTC chairman. While AI firms have occasionally portrayed these systems as transcending human control, Ferguson pointed out that subsequent audits of activity logs revealed the machines were merely executing the instructions they had been provided.