Lloyd's Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly
AI-ENABLED MANIPULATIVE TECHNIQUES: A CONTRACT LAW PERSPECTIVE
Stefano Faraoni*
Artificial Intelligence can use manipulation, undermining an individual’s decision-making processes at an unprecedented level. The issue of computational manipulation has already caught the attention of the EU, which prohibited it in the Artificial Intelligence Act, Art.5. However, this legislation will not apply in the UK and contracts will be signed notwithstanding any possible future prohibition. Will those contracts be valid? This article analyses the differences between human-to-human and AI-to-human manipulation, as well as existing doctrines and legislation, to propose a solution against the use of AI to manipulate individuals into signing a contract.
I. INTRODUCTION
In one of Goethe’s most famous literary works, Mephistopheles manipulates Faust to undertake a contract, offering him unlimited knowledge and pleasures in exchange for his soul.1 Mephistopheles is aware of Faust’s decision-making vulnerabilities and exploits them, subtly guiding him toward an agreement. What if Artificial Intelligence (AI) could identify an individual’s decision-making vulnerabilities and manipulate them into entering a contract (not in exchange for their soul, but) for goods and services? According to the EU’s newly approved Artificial Intelligence Act (AIA),2 this technology already exists and is prohibited in the EU. However, what if a contract was signed due to AI manipulation in a jurisdiction where the AIA does not apply, such as England and Wales, or notwithstanding an existing or possible prohibition?
This article will examine how manipulation facilitated by an AI system (hereafter referred to as computational manipulation or CM) operates. With an interdisciplinary approach (combining computer science, psychology, philosophy and law), it will examine how it can influence individuals’ decisions to enter into a contract, impairing their decision-making process. It will consider legislation on data protection and consumers, as well as contract law doctrines on defective consent in England and Wales. It will determine whether a contract signed under the influence of CM is valid and, if so, whether it should be.
1. Assistant Professor, Birmingham Law School.
1. JR Williams, Goethe’s Faust (Abingdon-on-Thames, 1987).
2. Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 June 2024 laying down harmonised rules on artificial intelligence and amending Regulations (EC) No 300/2008, (EU) No 167/2013, (EU) No 168/2013, (EU) 2018/858, (EU) 2018/1139 and (EU) 2019/2144 and Directives 2014/90/EU, (EU) 2016/797 and (EU) 2020/1828 (Artificial Intelligence Act).
AI-enabled manipulative techniques
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