Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. § 45) gives the FTC broad authority over unfair and deceptive business practices. It is the primary statutory hook for federal AI enforcement in the absence of comprehensive AI legislation, and the basis for actions against AI products that overstate capabilities, deploy undisclosed bots, or use dark-pattern manipulation.
Section 5 applies regardless of industry: chatbots, recommendation systems, and generative AI products are all subject to the same "no deceiving consumers, no unfair practices" standard.