Allegations that AI shopping chatbots suppress products manufactured in the United States and fail to flag fraudulent origin claims prompted two US senators to request a Federal Trade Commission probe. The lawmakers claim that Amazon and Walmart's AI tools mislead consumers by hiding legitimate domestic goods from search results, which potentially disadvantages American producers.

The requested investigation would focus on the algorithms governing the retailers' e-commerce interfaces and the transparency of their AI-driven labeling. The Federal Trade Commission has not yet announced whether it will launch a formal inquiry into the chatbot failures described in the senators' request.