AI may become able to influence our decision-making, study says

Artificial intelligence could be used to manipulate audiences into making decisions, ranging from what to buy to who to vote for, according to researchers at the University of Cambridge.

- Dan Milmo

Their study highlights an emerging marketplace for "digital signals of intent" - known as the "intention economy" - in which AI assistants understand, forecast and manipulate human intentions and sell this information to companies that can profit from it.

The intention economy is touted by researchers at Cambridge's Leverhulme centre for the future of intelligence (LCFI) as a successor to the attention economy, where social networks keep users hooked on their platforms and serve them adverts. The intention economy involves tech firms selling to the highest bidder what they know about your motivations, from plans for a stay in a hotel to opinions on a politician.