Hey, I am reading the Communication Artificial Intelligence for Europe (other languages), it seems that EU is very enthusiastic about attracting further investment into AI in order to keep its economic competitiveness in this sector. Although more socially beneficial uses (such as healthcare in advanced economies) are introduced in the beginning, the application specifics are not extensively examined. Ethics are overviewed toward the end of the document, suggesting building general awareness of algorithms. What would be necessary for this public algorithm awareness to prevent negative emotions based advertisement from being effective and thus used by companies?[1]
In conjunction with increases in public awareness regarding algorithms, what else would support EU in gaining wellbeing competitiveness? Could this coincide with measures that support global advancement and prevent catastrophic risks, such as developing supportive institutions in industrializing nuclear powers?
For example, if people understood ‘ok, this advertisement is showing a bias that induces fear and subsequently assures the viewer of the company’s protection, thus motivates the advertised product’s purchases, but it is only manipulation, the product’s influence on one’s wellbeing, net of such related to impulsive behavior, does not change,’ would persons seek less value added by marketing and more health and leisure? Would this development be aligned with EU’s objectives?
Thank you for the questions. Regarding emotions-based advertisement, you might find our recent EURACTIV (a top EU policy media network) op-ed about AI manipulation relevant and interesting: The EU needs to protect (more) against AI manipulation. In it, we invite EU policymakers to expand the definition of manipulation and also consider societal harms from manipulation in addition to individual psychological and physical harms. And here’s a bit longer version of that same op-ed.
Thank you! Yes, that would be so great if all manipulative techniques are banned, but I would recognize not only targeting people in moments of vulnerability but also 1) using negative, often fear- or/and shame-based, biases and imagery to assume authority, 2) presenting unapproachable images that should (thus) portray authority,[1] 3) physical and body shaming, 4) using sexual appeal in non-sexual contexts and/especially when it can be assumed that the viewer is not interested in such appeal, 5) allusions to physical/personal space intrusion, especially when the advertisement assumes/motivates the assumption of the viewer’s vulnerability, 6) hierarchies in entitlement to attention of persons who are not looking to share such based on the reflection of commercial models, 7) manipulative use of statistics and graphs, 8) use of contradictory images and text that motivate decreased enjoyment of close ones, 9) generally demanding attention when viewers are not interested in giving attention, 10) evoking other negative emotions, such as despair, guilt, fear, shame, hatred including self-hatred, decreasing confidence in own worth of enjoyment and respect, and motivating the feeling of limited enjoyment of one’s situations, 11) shopping processes that can be understood as betrayal or abuse, 12) normalization or glorification of throwing up and allusions to such in unrelated contexts, 13) onomatopoeic expressions that appeal to impulsive behavior, and other negatively manipulative techniques as those which should be banned or regulated and explained alongside with the ad.
From the AI Act, it may be apparent that the EU seeks to do the minimum in commercial regulations to not lose competitiveness in this area (or perhaps since resolving this issue seems somewhat challenging and would require the decisionmakers’ admittance of being subject to potentially suboptimal advertisements) and rather focus on updating existing systems, such as those related to administration in various government branches.
Thus, the optimal solution can be to develop a public resource on recognizing and ignoring manipulative advertisement while keeping economic activity (such as an ad analysis and blocking app) that can be likeable even by public officials and gather data that allow for economic growth and wellbeing development modeling in scenarios with different advertisement regulations. Then, specific ad analysis and blocking suggestions can be presented to the government to make optimal regulatory decisions.
The alternative can be using imagery that evokes caring engagement with the objective to develop the intellectual and emotional capacity of the viewer.
Hey, I am reading the Communication Artificial Intelligence for Europe (other languages), it seems that EU is very enthusiastic about attracting further investment into AI in order to keep its economic competitiveness in this sector. Although more socially beneficial uses (such as healthcare in advanced economies) are introduced in the beginning, the application specifics are not extensively examined. Ethics are overviewed toward the end of the document, suggesting building general awareness of algorithms. What would be necessary for this public algorithm awareness to prevent negative emotions based advertisement from being effective and thus used by companies?[1]
In conjunction with increases in public awareness regarding algorithms, what else would support EU in gaining wellbeing competitiveness? Could this coincide with measures that support global advancement and prevent catastrophic risks, such as developing supportive institutions in industrializing nuclear powers?
For example, if people understood ‘ok, this advertisement is showing a bias that induces fear and subsequently assures the viewer of the company’s protection, thus motivates the advertised product’s purchases, but it is only manipulation, the product’s influence on one’s wellbeing, net of such related to impulsive behavior, does not change,’ would persons seek less value added by marketing and more health and leisure? Would this development be aligned with EU’s objectives?
Thank you for the questions. Regarding emotions-based advertisement, you might find our recent EURACTIV (a top EU policy media network) op-ed about AI manipulation relevant and interesting: The EU needs to protect (more) against AI manipulation. In it, we invite EU policymakers to expand the definition of manipulation and also consider societal harms from manipulation in addition to individual psychological and physical harms. And here’s a bit longer version of that same op-ed.
Thank you! Yes, that would be so great if all manipulative techniques are banned, but I would recognize not only targeting people in moments of vulnerability but also 1) using negative, often fear- or/and shame-based, biases and imagery to assume authority, 2) presenting unapproachable images that should (thus) portray authority,[1] 3) physical and body shaming, 4) using sexual appeal in non-sexual contexts and/especially when it can be assumed that the viewer is not interested in such appeal, 5) allusions to physical/personal space intrusion, especially when the advertisement assumes/motivates the assumption of the viewer’s vulnerability, 6) hierarchies in entitlement to attention of persons who are not looking to share such based on the reflection of commercial models, 7) manipulative use of statistics and graphs, 8) use of contradictory images and text that motivate decreased enjoyment of close ones, 9) generally demanding attention when viewers are not interested in giving attention, 10) evoking other negative emotions, such as despair, guilt, fear, shame, hatred including self-hatred, decreasing confidence in own worth of enjoyment and respect, and motivating the feeling of limited enjoyment of one’s situations, 11) shopping processes that can be understood as betrayal or abuse, 12) normalization or glorification of throwing up and allusions to such in unrelated contexts, 13) onomatopoeic expressions that appeal to impulsive behavior, and other negatively manipulative techniques as those which should be banned or regulated and explained alongside with the ad.
From the AI Act, it may be apparent that the EU seeks to do the minimum in commercial regulations to not lose competitiveness in this area (or perhaps since resolving this issue seems somewhat challenging and would require the decisionmakers’ admittance of being subject to potentially suboptimal advertisements) and rather focus on updating existing systems, such as those related to administration in various government branches.
Thus, the optimal solution can be to develop a public resource on recognizing and ignoring manipulative advertisement while keeping economic activity (such as an ad analysis and blocking app) that can be likeable even by public officials and gather data that allow for economic growth and wellbeing development modeling in scenarios with different advertisement regulations. Then, specific ad analysis and blocking suggestions can be presented to the government to make optimal regulatory decisions.
The alternative can be using imagery that evokes caring engagement with the objective to develop the intellectual and emotional capacity of the viewer.