The European Consumer Organization has added its voice to the chorus of worries about ChatGPT and other chatbots with artificial intelligence by urging EU consumer protection agencies to look into the technology and any potential risks to people.

As Microsoft-backed Open AI’s ChatGPT gains traction for its ability to mimic humans and produce text and graphics in response to commands, other companies, including Alphabet’s Google, Amazon’s cloud division AWS, and Meta Platforms, have announced tools that are similar.

BEUC, the umbrella organization for 46 consumer organizations from 32 nations, expressed its concerns in two separate letters to the networks of consumer safety authorities (CSN network) and consumer protection authorities (CPC network) earlier this month.

The lobbying group claimed that chatbot-generated information, which often contains factual errors but appears authentic and reliable, can mislead customers and lead to misleading advertising. It claimed that children and younger customers are particularly susceptible to these hazards.

BEUC Deputy Director General Ursula Pachl wrote in a letter to the CPC network and the European Commission, “BEUC thus asks you to investigate the risks that these AI systems pose to consumers as a matter of urgency, to identify their presence in consumer markets and to explore what remedial action must be taken to avoid consumer harm.”

The group also urged the Consumer Safety Network to begin an informational exchange and an inquiry into the safety hazards associated with these items.