AI in the Home: Artificial Intelligence and Consumer Protection

Abstract

This chapter considers the role of consumer protection law in responding to the risks to consumers’ autonomy and welfare posed by the burgeoning use of artificial intelligence (AI) in ordinary consumer products. It focuses on voice-activated digital assistants as a prime example of this kind of AI informed product. While such products may offer assistance with everyday tasks around the home, they also carry risks of harm to consumers, including eroding privacy, perpetuating discrimination, and interfering with consumers’ decision-making autonomy. AI consumer products also not work very well, or be unreliable or unsafe. This chapter considers the way in which consumer protection law may address these risks and draws on insights from principles of AI ethics to identify a more effective response by consumers and regulators. It further notes complementary contributions of other fields of law and policy in addressing matters on which consumer protection law has less to say, particularly equity, accessibility and fair treatment

Keywords: Consumer protection, reasonable care and skill, accessibility, accountability, digital assistants, human-computer interactions