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AI washing is a deceptive marketing tactic that consists of promoting a product or a service by overstating the role of artificial intelligence (AI) integration in it. [1] [2] It raises concerns regarding transparency, consumer trust in the AI industry, and compliance with security regulations, potentially hampering legitimate advancements in AI. [3] U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chairman Gary Gensler compared it to greenwashing. [4] AI washing ranges from the use of buzzwords attached to products such as "smart" or "machine-learning," to more blatant cases of companies claiming to have used AI in their products or services, without actually having used AI.
The term "AI washing" was first defined by the AI Now Institute, a research institute based at New York University in 2019. [5] However, the act of AI washing had been used earlier in various campaigns trying to attract customers with "innovative" products or services.
In September 2023, Coca-Cola came out with a new product called Coca‑Cola® Y3000 Zero Sugar. The company stated that the Y3000 flavor had been 'co-created' with AI, yet gave no real explanation of how AI was involved in the process. [6] The company was accused of AI washing due to no proof of AI involvement in the creation of the product. Critics believe that AI was used as a way to grab consumer attention more than it was used in the actual product creation. [7]
Some companies have been accused and/or shuttered of trying to capitalize on this trend by exaggerating the role of AI in their offerings. In March 2024, the SEC imposed the first civil penalties on two companies, Delphia Inc and Global Predictions Inc, for misleading statements about their use of AI. [8] [9] And in July 2024, the SEC shutdown and charged the CEO and founder of Joonko, a supposed AI hiring startup, with fraud alleging (amongst other serious charges) that he "engaged in an old school fraud using new school buzzwords like ‘artificial intelligence’ and ‘automation,’” [10]
Fuze Beverage, commercially referred to as simply Fuze, is a manufacturer of teas and non-carbonated fruit drinks enriched with vitamins. Currently the brand consists of five vitamin-infused lines: Slenderize, Refresh, Tea, Defensify, and Vitalize. The use of vitamins, amino acids, and herbs, and alternative sweeteners such as crystalline fructose places Fuze products in what is known in the industry as the new age beverage category.
Pump and dump (P&D) is a form of securities fraud that involves artificially inflating the price of an owned stock through false and misleading positive statements (pump), in order to sell the cheaply purchased stock at a higher price (dump). Once the operators of the scheme "dump" (sell) their overvalued shares, the price falls and investors lose their money. This is most common with small-cap cryptocurrencies and very small corporations/companies, i.e. "microcaps".
Greenwashing, also called green sheen, is a form of advertising or marketing spin that deceptively uses green PR and green marketing to persuade the public that an organization's products, goals, or policies are environmentally friendly. Companies that intentionally adopt greenwashing communication strategies often do so to distance themselves from their environmental lapses or those of their suppliers. Firms engage in greenwashing for two primary reasons: to appear legitimate and to project an image of environmental responsibility to the public.
The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational corporation founded in 1892. It manufactures, sells and markets soft drinks including Coca-Cola, other non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups, and alcoholic beverages. Its stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and is a component of the DJIA and the S&P 500 and S&P 100 indexes.
Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, commonly known as Coke Zero, is a diet soda produced by the Coca-Cola Company.
Salesforce, Inc. is an American cloud-based software company headquartered in San Francisco, California. It provides applications focused on sales, customer service, marketing automation, e-commerce, analytics, artificial intelligence, and application development.
F5, Inc. is an American technology company specializing in application security, multi-cloud management, online fraud prevention, application delivery networking (ADN), application availability & performance, network security, and access & authorization.
Energy Brands, also doing business as Glacéau, is a privately owned subsidiary of The Coca-Cola Company based in Whitestone, Queens, New York, that manufactures and distributes various lines of drinks marketed as enhanced water. Founded in May 1996 by J. Darius Bikoff with an electrolyte enhanced line of water called Smartwater, Energy Brands initially distributed its products to health food stores and independent retailers in the New York area. Adding Fruitwater and Vitaminwater to its line in 1998 and 2000, respectively, the company expanded to nationwide distribution in the early 2000s.
MIND CTI Ltd. is a global provider of billing and customer care solutions and messaging services for voice, data, video and content services. Headquartered in Yokneam, Israel; the company also has offices in the United States of America, Iaşi in Romania and in Germany.
Monster Beverage Corporation is an American beverage company that manufactures energy drinks including Monster Energy, Relentless, Reign and Burn. The company was originally founded as Hansen's in 1935 in Southern California, originally selling juice products. The company renamed itself as Monster Beverage in 2012.
A green company, also known as an environmentally friendly or sustainable business, is an organization that conducts itself in a way that minimizes harm to the environment. Examples of these actions may include the conservation of natural resources, efforts to reduce carbon emissions, a reduction of waste creation, and support of ecological conservation. Green companies often implement environmentally responsible practices across their entire value chain, from sourcing raw materials to manufacturing processes and distribution.
Daniel Mattes is an Austrian internet entrepreneur and venture capitalist. He is the founder and was CEO of artificial intelligence company 42.cx and a judge and business angel on the Austrian television show '2 Minuten 2 Millionen', the Austrian version of Shark Tank, which airs on Puls4.
Palantir Technologies Inc. is an American publicly traded company that specializes in software platforms for big data analytics. Headquartered in Denver, Colorado, it was founded by Peter Thiel, Stephen Cohen, Joe Lonsdale, and Alex Karp in 2003. The company's name is derived from The Lord of the Rings where the magical palantíri were "seeing-stones," described as indestructible balls of crystal used for communication and to see events in other parts of the world.
Sprite is a clear, lemon-lime flavored soft drink created by the Coca-Cola Company. Sprite comes in additional flavors, including cranberry, cherry, grape, orange, tropical, ginger, and vanilla. Ice, peach, Berryclear remix, and newer versions of the drinks are artificially sweetened. Sprite was created primarily to compete against 7 Up.
Cheetah Mobile Inc (猎豹移动公司) is a Chinese mobile internet company incorporated in the Cayman Islands and headquartered in Beijing.
Allbirds is a New Zealand and American public benefit company that sells footwear and apparel, co-founded in 2014 by Tim Brown and Joey Zwillinger. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, California. Its business model has relied on direct-to-consumer commerce, although it also has brick and mortar commerce.
Topo-Chico is a brand of sparkling mineral water from Mexico. Topo-Chico is both naturally carbonated at the source and artificially carbonated.
Veritone, Inc. is an American artificial intelligence technology company based in Irvine, California founded in 2014. Veritone's aiWARE technology and solutions are licensed and utilized by such industries as global media conglomerates, professional sports teams, federal government agencies, energy utilities, and state and local police departments. Veritone services more than 1,500 customers around the world. It is traded on NASDAQ Global Market as VERI.
Mir Mohammad Ali khan also known as MirMak, is a Pakistani stockbroker and a fugitive who is known for allegedly misappropriating millions of dollars from multiple clients of his brokerage firm, among them individuals associated with the Gambino crime family.
Coca-Cola Creations is a series of limited edition variants of Coca-Cola. The flavors use non-traditional branding designed to appeal to younger consumers, and a focus on digital marketing and augmented reality experiences. The brand launched in February 2022 with Coca-Cola Starlight, a "space flavored" cola.