AI in EnfTech is moving fast
This week, the Indian Department of Consumer Affairs updated international consumer authorities on its ‘Dark Pattern Buster Hackathon’ which it instigated last year to develop new tech tools to help consumers detect and potentially block dark patterns on e-commerce sites. They shared progress at a recent webinar on AI and Consumer Protection organised by the UNCTAD Working Group on Consumer Protection in e-commerce.
EnfTech project co-founder Christine Riefa is chair of this UNCTAD working group, which brings together consumer protection authorities from across the world to share best practice and work on common enforcement issues. The US Federal Trade Commission also presented on the dangers of discrimination in AI, and Euroconsumers discussed their use of AI to improve complaints analysis and co-ordination of enforcement actions across borders.
A full recording of the event can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gNQoieEe84&t=721s
The complete set of presentations are available here: https://unctad.org/meeting/webinar-artificial-intelligence-and-consumer-protection-risks-consumers
Liz Coll and Christine Riefa have co-written a chapter in the upcoming publication: DiMatteo, Poncibó, Howells (2024) The Cambridge Handbook of AI and Consumer Law due out this summer. The chapter goes into more depth on the potential and pitfalls in using AI in consumer law enforcement, we are optimistic about its benefits for speeding up data capture and analysis, but those designing or commissioning its use must be aware of its limitations and proceed with care.