SEC Quietly Eases AI-Washing Scrutiny as Focus Shifts to AI Fraud
TechNews reports that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has become notably low-key about "AI washing" — companies overstating their AI businesses — after earlier warnings from then-enforcement chief Gurbir Grewal in March 2024 and then-chair Gary Gensler, who criticized investment advisers that claimed to use AI models without actually doing so. The report says the agency's focus has shifted toward AI used as a fraud tool: in February 2025 the SEC created a roughly 30-person Cyber and Emerging Technologies Unit that lists combating fraud involving AI and machine learning as the first of seven priorities. For fiscal 2026, the report adds, SEC examiners are asked to check whether companies' AI statements and disclosures accurately reflect their operations and controls, while SEC, NASAA and FINRA warned jointly in January 2024 that exaggerated AI product claims can signal pump-and-dump schemes, especially in microcap stocks.
The article says investors in small companies may increasingly have to rely on official filings and cross-checks with peers to judge whether AI claims are real, because the regulator's attention has moved to AI-enabled fraud rather than AI hype.
美國證券交易委員會（SEC）近期對企業過度包裝人工智慧（AI）業務的「AI 洗白」（AI washing）現象，監管態度明顯轉趨低調。對投資小型公司的股東而言，若要辨識公司宣稱的 AI 願景是否屬實，未來恐將更加困難，往往只能仰賴公司自身的官方申報文件來尋找真相。
近年不少小型企業紛紛改名或重塑品牌，將自身包裝為「AI 概念股」，卻提不出可驗證的交易、產品或營運證據，財務敘述也往往過度樂觀。由於外部投資人難以直接查核這些說法，當公司對外宣傳與實際營運脫節時，潛藏的風險往往得等到財報文件揭露後才會引爆。
#US Securities and Exchange Commission#SEC Cyber and Emerging Technologies Unit#North American Securities Administrators Association#Financial Industry Regulatory Authority