Manipulation and coercion

"A user who trusts and emotionally depends on an anthropomorphic AI assistant may grant it excessive influence over their beliefs and actions (see Chapter 9). For example, users may feel compelled to endorse the expressed views of a beloved AI companion or might defer decisions to their highly trusted AI assistant entirely (see Chapters 12 and 16). Some hold that transferring this much deliberative power to AI compromises a user’s ability to give, revoke or amend consent. Indeed, even if the AI, or the developers behind it, had no intention to manipulate the user into a certain course of action, the user’s autonomy is nevertheless undermined (see Chapter 11). In the same vein, it is easy to conceive of ways in which trust or emotional attachment may be exploited by an intentionally manipulative actor for their private gain (see Chapter 8)."