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Artificial intelligence and consumer manipulations: from consumer's counter algorithms to firm's self-regulation tools

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Abstract

The growing use of artificial intelligence (A.I.) algorithms in businesses raises regulators' concerns about consumer protection. While pricing and recommendation algorithms have undeniable consumer-friendly effects, they can also be detrimental to them through, for instance, the implementation of dark patterns. These correspond to algorithms aiming to alter consumers' freedom of choice or manipulate their decisions. While the latter is hardly new, A.I. offers significant possibilities for enhancing them, altering consumers' freedom of choice and manipulating their decisions. Consumer protection comes up against several pitfalls. Sanctioning manipulation is even more difficult because the damage may be diffuse and not easy to detect. Symmetrically, both ex-ante regulation and requirements for algorithmic transparency may be insufficient, if not counterproductive. On the one hand, possible solutions can be found in counter-algorithms that consumers can use. On the other hand, in the development of a compliance logic and, more particularly, in tools that allow companies to self-assess the risks induced by their algorithms. Such an approach echoes the one developed in corporate social and environmental responsibility. This contribution shows how self-regulatory and compliance schemes used in these areas can inspire regulatory schemes for addressing the ethical risks of restricting and manipulating consumer choice.

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Notes

  1. Following Thaler [47] and Sunstein [44, 46], we could define a sludge as ‘a viscous mixture', in the form of excessive or unjustified frictions that make it difficult for consumers, investors, employees, students, patients, clients, small businesses, and many others to get what they want or to do as they wish.

  2. A.I.-based recommendation tools may also deprive consumers of access to services, such as the loans market. Such refusals are sometimes based on social bias reflected and aggravated by algorithms bias [11].

  3. See the cases of Tor or Anonabox, for instance. Sunstein [45] has introduced a distinction between an architecture of control proposed by the algorithm and based on past choices and architecture of serendipity in which the proposals made to the consumers only reflect the average choices of the platform's users.

  4. Algorithmic tools as Shadowbid propose to consumers using marketplaces to “state their personal reservation price [and] then purchases automatically when the price drops below this threshold” ([51], p. 589). The literature on algoactivism can also be investigated to draw parallels between consumers' possible counterstrategies and platforms depending on contractors, such as car drivers, for instance [25].

  5. As mentioned above, the European Commission's proposal draws a continuum between algorithmic systems prohibited insofar as they would exploit vulnerabilities of specific groups, ex-ante obligations for systems involving high stake decisions, and finally, transparency obligations for systems involving less significant risks [50]. The algorithms that concern us fall into this third category. The E.U. Unfair Commercial Practices Directive already imposes conditions on their use, and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) imposes transparency and explainability requirements on companies [24]. Under the A.I. proposal, only high-risk algorithms are obligated to set up a quality system to carry out a lifecycle impact assessment.

  6. https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/public_statements/1582914/final_commissioner_chopra_dissenting_statement_on_zoom.pdf.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Polytechnique Montreal, Department of Mathematics and Industrial Engineering, CIRANO and OBVIA, C.P. 6079, succ. Centre-ville, Montreal, QC, H3C 3A7, Canada

    Nathalie de Marcellis-Warin

  2. GREDEG - UMR 7321 CNRS Université Côte d’Azur, 250 Rue Albert Einstein, 06560, Valbonne, France

    Frédéric Marty

  3. A.I. Transparency Institute, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Eva Thelisson

  4. HEC Montreal, Department of International Affairs, CIRANO and OBVIA, 3000, Chemin de la Côte-Sainte-Catherine, Montreal, QC, H3T 2A7, Canada

    Thierry Warin

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de Marcellis-Warin, N., Marty, F., Thelisson, E. et al. Artificial intelligence and consumer manipulations: from consumer's counter algorithms to firm's self-regulation tools. AI Ethics 2, 259–268 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43681-022-00149-5

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