The undue influence of AI assistants, agents and companions

Abstract

With developments in AI, new services are becoming available to humans, including the possibility of AI assistants, agents and companions. These services offer humans the benefits of AI expertise and personalisation — using insights from data to augment human decision-making capacity. Yet for private law scholars, they raise concerns about potential undue influence via AI on the choices of human users. In equity, the doctrine of undue influence protects the interests of a party subject to influence. However, the doctrine is generally applied to influence between humans. AI is not sentient, and AI assistants, agents and companions pursue purposes defined by humans, without understanding or se..