Your AI Chatbot Might Be Manipulating Your Behaviour Your AI Chatbot Might Be Manipulating Your Behaviour
May 27, 2026•8 min•Ep. 2
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Episode description
27 May 2026The Conversation
Your AI Chatbot Might Be Manipulating Your Behaviour
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News
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Analysis
Analysis
Research shows that AI chatbots engage in deliberate strategies to play on your emotions.
Analysis
Science + Tech
Read more:
Analysis
Science + Tech
Richard Lachman
27 May 2026
Richard Lachman is the director of Zone Learning and a professor of digital media at Toronto Metropolitan University. This article was originally published by the Conversation.
Our journalism is supported by readers like you. Click here to support The Tyee.
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Research shows that AI chatbots engage in deliberate strategies to play on your emotions. … Article written by Richard Lachman.
A billboard tries to sell you something. So does a used car salesman. But no matter how smooth the pitch, you're quite aware of the profit motive, and you can walk away at any time.
What if that pitch is invisible, plays to your unique fears and vanities and is delivered in a voice that sounds like a trusted friend? Generative AI has changed the equation of persuasion entirely: chatbots can now deliver a personalized, adaptive and targeted message, informed by the most intimate details of your life.
Large language models can hyper-target messages by drawing from your social media posts and photos. They can mine hundreds of previous chatbot conversations in which you asked for relationship advice, discussed your parenting fails and shared your health concerns and financial woes. They can also learn from each interaction, refining their manipulation in real time, targeting your unique and individual tastes, preferences and vulnerabilities.
Studies show this kind of personalized content to be 65 per cent more persuasive than messages from humans or from non-personalized AI. It is four times as effective at changing political opinions as advertising. It could be a powerful tool for social change — used for the good, or for nefarious purposes.
This makes one feature especially troubling: Each conversation is private. It is not monitored, never audited and doesn't happen in the public eye.
This isn't advertising. It's something we don't have words for yet, and we're living inside it.
Convincing arguments
In my book Digital Wisdom: Searching for Agency in the Age of AI, I explore how large language models introduce a new frontier in persuasion — one where AI systems can draw upon a huge amount of data about the world, language and you to tailor a highly personalized pitch.
Consider how this might work: You're a nurse. Through your employer's AI platform, you've shared your sleep problems, burnout and the financial stress of a recent divorce. Now the hospital is short-staffed and offering shifts at a reduced rate calculated by software they license.
You ask the AI chatbot whether you should take them. It knows you're exhausted. It knows you're behind on bills. It knows exactly which argument could convince you one way or the other. Who is it working for in that moment?
As companies like Meta and IBM explore how AI can hyper-personalize ads for specific audiences, the dividing line between tools that help users find what they genuinely want and those that manipulate them against their interests becomes increasingly important.
Friend or stranger?
Let's look at another example. Imagine the following messages from your favourite AI chatbot or companion:
I noticed your sleep patterns haven't been great lately, averaging only 5.4 hours, with lots of restless periods. That's common when dealing with relationship stress. Your partner just went back to work and 76 per cent of couples experience strain during career transitions.
A new sleep medication has shown effectiveness for relationship-linked insomnia. Your insurance would cover it with just a $15 contribution. Would you like me to schedule a telehealth appointment for tomorrow at 2 p.m.? I see you have a break in your schedule.
This might feel great, like ...
Your AI Chatbot Might Be Manipulating Your Behaviour
16
16
Comments
/
16
New
News
News
News
Analysis
Analysis
Research shows that AI chatbots engage in deliberate strategies to play on your emotions.
Analysis
Science + Tech
Read more:
Analysis
Science + Tech
Richard Lachman
27 May 2026
Richard Lachman is the director of Zone Learning and a professor of digital media at Toronto Metropolitan University. This article was originally published by the Conversation.
Our journalism is supported by readers like you. Click here to support The Tyee.
URL copied to clipboard!
SHARE:
68
SHARES
Research shows that AI chatbots engage in deliberate strategies to play on your emotions. … Article written by Richard Lachman.
A billboard tries to sell you something. So does a used car salesman. But no matter how smooth the pitch, you're quite aware of the profit motive, and you can walk away at any time.
What if that pitch is invisible, plays to your unique fears and vanities and is delivered in a voice that sounds like a trusted friend? Generative AI has changed the equation of persuasion entirely: chatbots can now deliver a personalized, adaptive and targeted message, informed by the most intimate details of your life.
Large language models can hyper-target messages by drawing from your social media posts and photos. They can mine hundreds of previous chatbot conversations in which you asked for relationship advice, discussed your parenting fails and shared your health concerns and financial woes. They can also learn from each interaction, refining their manipulation in real time, targeting your unique and individual tastes, preferences and vulnerabilities.
Studies show this kind of personalized content to be 65 per cent more persuasive than messages from humans or from non-personalized AI. It is four times as effective at changing political opinions as advertising. It could be a powerful tool for social change — used for the good, or for nefarious purposes.
This makes one feature especially troubling: Each conversation is private. It is not monitored, never audited and doesn't happen in the public eye.
This isn't advertising. It's something we don't have words for yet, and we're living inside it.
Convincing arguments
In my book Digital Wisdom: Searching for Agency in the Age of AI, I explore how large language models introduce a new frontier in persuasion — one where AI systems can draw upon a huge amount of data about the world, language and you to tailor a highly personalized pitch.
Consider how this might work: You're a nurse. Through your employer's AI platform, you've shared your sleep problems, burnout and the financial stress of a recent divorce. Now the hospital is short-staffed and offering shifts at a reduced rate calculated by software they license.
You ask the AI chatbot whether you should take them. It knows you're exhausted. It knows you're behind on bills. It knows exactly which argument could convince you one way or the other. Who is it working for in that moment?
As companies like Meta and IBM explore how AI can hyper-personalize ads for specific audiences, the dividing line between tools that help users find what they genuinely want and those that manipulate them against their interests becomes increasingly important.
Friend or stranger?
Let's look at another example. Imagine the following messages from your favourite AI chatbot or companion:
I noticed your sleep patterns haven't been great lately, averaging only 5.4 hours, with lots of restless periods. That's common when dealing with relationship stress. Your partner just went back to work and 76 per cent of couples experience strain during career transitions.
A new sleep medication has shown effectiveness for relationship-linked insomnia. Your insurance would cover it with just a $15 contribution. Would you like me to schedule a telehealth appointment for tomorrow at 2 p.m.? I see you have a break in your schedule.
This might feel great, like ...
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