---
title: "AI-washing and AI-generated advertising claims: substantiation checklist"
url: "https://ailawframework.com/precedents/competition-and-consumer-law/ai-claims-substantiation-checklist"
type: "precedent"
site: "AI Law Framework"
id: "a29-ai-claims-substantiation-checklist"
area_id: "A29"
kind: "checklist"
ai_level: "yellow"
version: 1
law_stated_as_at: "2026-10-17"
---

# AI-washing and AI-generated advertising claims: substantiation checklist

> Pre-publication checklist for two risks: claims about a product's AI capabilities (AI-washing), and marketing content generated by AI (copy, images, reviews, prices), so every claim is true, not misleading and backed…

Canonical page: https://ailawframework.com/precedents/competition-and-consumer-law/ai-claims-substantiation-checklist  
Law stated as at: 2026-10-17

Site index for agents: https://ailawframework.com/llms.txt

Pre-publication checklist for two risks: claims about a product's AI capabilities (AI-washing), and marketing content generated by AI (copy, images, reviews, prices), so every claim is true, not misleading and backed by evidence before release.

## Key facts

- Kind: Checklist. Steps or checks to work through and tick off.
- Practice area: [Competition & Consumer Law](https://ailawframework.com/precedents/competition-and-consumer-law.md)
- Jurisdictions: Australia, United States
- AI level: Yellow. AI can help in set ways. A lawyer checks specific points before use.
- Law stated as at: 2026-10-17
- Status: Maintained. Checked on 2026-10-17 against the 7 authorities it cites, for Australia and United States.

## When to use it

Use before launching a campaign, product page, investor or customer presentation that mentions AI, and before publishing any AI-generated marketing content. Do not use as a substitute for advice on financial product disclosure, therapeutic goods or other specially regulated advertising.

## How AI may be used

Close supervision. AI can find and list claims across campaign material and match them to the evidence the client holds, but deciding what a claim conveys to the audience and whether the evidence substantiates it are lawyer judgments.

**AI may:**

- Extract every express and implied claim from the copy, scripts, images and web pages into the claims register with locations.
- Match each claim to the evidence files the client has supplied and flag claims with no evidence.
- Suggest more accurate or qualified wording for claims the lawyer has decided to change.

**AI must not:**

- Must not decide the dominant impression a claim conveys to the target audience.
- Must not generate testimonials, reviews, ratings, endorsements or performance statistics.
- Must not treat a vendor's marketing material as substantiation of the client's own claims.

**The lawyer checks:**

- Each claim's overall impression has been assessed from the perspective of the ordinary member of the target audience.
- Evidence for each claim existed before publication and is filed.
- AI-generated images, voices or people do not misrepresent the product, its results or who endorses it.
- Disclaimers do not contradict the headline claim.

## Authorities

- [Australian Consumer Law (Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) Sch 2) ss 4, 18, 29(1)(a), (b), (e), (f), (g), (i), 33, 34](https://www.legislation.gov.au/C2004A00109/latest/text)
- [Australian Consumer Law ss 219-221 (substantiation notices) and s 224 (pecuniary penalties)](https://www.legislation.gov.au/C2004A00109/latest/text)
- [Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001 (Cth) s 12DA (financial products and services)](https://www.legislation.gov.au/C2004A00819/latest/text)
- [Treasury Laws Amendment (Doubling Penalties for ACCC Enforcement) Act 2026 (Cth)](https://www.legislation.gov.au/C2026A00019/asmade/text)
- [ACCC, Online reviews for products and services (business guidance)](https://www.accc.gov.au/business/advertising-and-promotions/online-reviews-for-product-and-services)
- [Federal Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. s 45 (US)](https://www.govinfo.gov/link/uscode/15/45?link-type=html)
- [Federal Trade Commission, 'FTC Announces Crackdown on Deceptive AI Claims and Schemes' (Operation AI Comply, 25 September 2024)](https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2024/09/ftc-announces-crackdown-deceptive-ai-claims-schemes)

## Full text and drafting notes

The full text and the drafting notes are not part of this public page. Signed-in firm accounts can read them at https://ailawframework.com/precedents/competition-and-consumer-law/ai-claims-substantiation-checklist and through the signed-in MCP connector https://ailawframework.com/mcp/firm.

*Practice guidance for planning and review. Confirm current primary sources and the requirements of the actual matter. This is general information, not legal advice.*