The AAM has written to the US Federal Trade Commission’s chairman Andrew Ferguson calling for an investigation into the claims AI shopping assistants could make it harder to buy American-made products.
“Consumers should not have to outsmart an algorithm to find American-made products,” says AAM president Scott Paul in the letter. “Nor should online marketplaces be allowed to benefit from vague, inconsistent, or contradictory country-of-origin practices that make it easier for foreign imports to compete against goods made by American workers.”
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
The AAM cited research from Columbia Law School which investigated two AI shopping agents – Amazon’s Alexa and Walmart’s Sparky – and found that products were frequently presented to consumers as “Made in the USA” despite having another country of origin listed.
AAM says this information influences consumer purchasing decisions and argues AI shopping tools should provide more accurate information.
“Consumers should not have to outsmart an algorithm to find American-made products. Nor should online marketplaces be allowed to benefit from vague, inconsistent, or contradictory country-of-origin practices that make it easier for foreign imports to compete against goods made by American workers,” the letter adds.
“When a consumer asks for Made in USA products, the response should not be confusion, evasion, or an unsupported claim that the information cannot be accessed. If the relevant information exists on the platform, or if the platform has tools capable of assessing origin claims, consumers deserve clear and accurate disclosure.”
The organisation also cited recent polling that found 82% of Americans would choose a “Made in USA” option over an imported alternative, but 35% said it was difficult to find information on this.
A majority of consumers (77%) said they would support regulations requiring online retailers to display country-of-origin labels in a similar way to physical stores.
