PS12942-PS12968-PS12973 - The Italian Competition Authority secures transparent information on “hallucination” risks from AI companies DeepSeek, Mistral and NOVA AI
PRESS RELEASE
Authority closes three investigations with commitments aimed at improving transparency around AI systems, including on the websites and apps through which users access the services and at the various stages of the decision-making process before purchase or registration.
In recent months, the Italian Competition Authority has extended its scrutiny of unfair commercial practices to generative artificial intelligence systems. In particular, it has focused on the risk of so-called “hallucinations” – the generation of inaccurate or misleading content. In this area, the Authority conducted three investigations into Hangzhou DeepSeek Artificial Intelligence Co. Ltd and Beijing DeepSeek Artificial Intelligence Co. Ltd (‘Deepseek’), Mistral AI SAS (‘Mistral’) and Scaleup Yazilim Hizmetleri Anonim Şirketi, which offers a cross-platform chatbot service named NOVA AI.
The three investigations were closed with commitments, without a finding of infringement under article 27(7) of the Consumer Code. The companies have agreed to adopt specific measures to improve transparency around the risk of “hallucinations” in their systems. The measures apply to the websites and apps through which users access the services, as well as the various stages of the decision-making process before purchase or registration. Permanent disclaimers have therefore been added below the chat windows in the user interfaces, warning users in Italian about the risk of hallucinations, including through dedicated hyperlinks.
The pre-contractual information has also been expanded and improved through clear warnings that generated content may not always be reliable and should be verified. In the proceedings concerning DeepSeek, the company also agreed to invest in technology to reduce the risk of “hallucinations”, while recognising that current technology cannot prevent them entirely. Lastly, as part of its commitments, NOVA AI agreed to make clear to consumers that its service simply provides a single interface for accessing a number of chatbots (each described in further detail), without aggregating or processing their responses.
Rome, 30 April 2026
Text of the commitments DeepSeek
Text of the decision Mistral AI