DARK PATTERNS IN THE AGE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: HOW AI MISLEADS CONSUMERS IN GLOBAL E-COMMERCE

Abstract

Dark patterns are user interfaces that trick people and limit their choices. As online shopping relies more on artificial intelligence (AI), new manipulative tactics have appeared, such as creating fake urgency, using surveillance pricing, posting fake reviews, and building highly adaptive interfaces. This paper examines how AI makes these deceptive practices more powerful by drawing on ideas from behavioural economics, human-computer interaction, and law to sort and analyse them. Existing laws target clear cases of deception, but they do not address the subtler problems posed by AI-based manipulative designs. To address these issues, this paper proposes several policy steps to mitigate the harm. These include recommendations that lawmakers broaden the definition of manipulative design, require more transparency about algorithms, set up checks for high-risk AI, create a “Fair Patterns” principle, clarify corporate liability, strengthen consumer-detection tools, and improve international cooperation. These steps are meant to protect people's autonomy and help rebuild trust in digital marketplaces.