Invisible influence: Artificial intelligence and the ethics of adaptive choice architectures

Daniel Susser

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

25 Scopus citations

Abstract

For several years, scholars have (for good reason) been largely preoccupied with worries about the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) tools to make decisions about us. Only recently has significant attention turned to a potentially more alarming problem: the use of AI/ML to influence our decision-making. The contexts in which we make decisions-what behavioral economists call our choice architectures-are increasingly technologically-laden. Which is to say: algorithms increasingly determine, in a wide variety of contexts, both the sets of options we choose from and the way those options are framed. Moreover, artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) makes it possible for those options and their framings-the choice architectures-to be tailored to the individual chooser. They are constructed based on information collected about our individual preferences, interests, aspirations, and vulnerabilities, with the goal of influencing our decisions. At the same time, because we are habituated to these technologies we pay them little notice. They are, as philosophers of technology put it, transparent to us-effectively invisible. I argue that this invisible layer of technological mediation, which structures and influences our decision-making, renders us deeply susceptible to manipulation. Absent a guarantee that these technologies are not being used to manipulate and exploit, individuals will have little reason to trust them.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationAIES 2019 - Proceedings of the 2019 AAAI/ACM Conference on AI, Ethics, and Society
PublisherAssociation for Computing Machinery, Inc
Pages403-408
Number of pages6
ISBN (Electronic)9781450363242
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 27 2019
Event2nd AAAI/ACM Conference on AI, Ethics, and Society, AIES 2019 - Honolulu, United States
Duration: Jan 27 2019Jan 28 2019

Publication series

NameAIES 2019 - Proceedings of the 2019 AAAI/ACM Conference on AI, Ethics, and Society

Conference

Conference2nd AAAI/ACM Conference on AI, Ethics, and Society, AIES 2019
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityHonolulu
Period1/27/191/28/19

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Artificial Intelligence

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