Impact of New Technologies on Economic Behavior and Consumer Freedom of Choice: from Neuromarketing to Neuro-Rights

Abstract

Objective: to identify the possibilities for an adequate response of the existing legal regime to the various challenges posed to European law by artificial intelligence systems underlying neuromarketing techniques.Methods: the study is based on the risk-oriented approach, formal-logical, formal-legal and comparative-legal methods, as well as on the method of legal forecasting, in order to identify the problems of legislation caused by the emerging technologies capable of recognizing human emotions and using them to control consumer behavior, and to propose ways to solve them.Results: the conducted research provides a brief overview of the most widely used neuromarketing techniques used by algorithms and machine learning. These allow identifying points of cognitive and emotional vulnerability, collecting and processing data, and then building the most effective marketing techniques that push a consumer to choose a certain product or service. Ethical problems are analyzed which arise from the use of neuromarketing techniques in relation to some basic values such as individual independence, human dignity, and freedom of choice. The subtle line is shown between techniques that manipulate consumer behavior (manipulation technique) and those that, on the contrary, have a persuasive effect, which in itself does not make them illegal (persuasion technique). An overview of the existing legal framework is presented, as well as case law from both the European Court of Justice and national courts of member states with a particular focus on the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, the EU General Regulation on the Protection of Personal Data (hard law), and codes of ethics (soft law).Scientific novelty: the paper points out the transformation of traditional legal categories and important problem points of the existing regulation due to the growing recognition of the potential of neuromarketing as a tool capable of explaining and predicting consumer behavior, as well as influencing the economic behavior of the subjects of relations.Practical significance: the obtained conclusions and proposals can be taken into account in improving the regulation of artificial intelligence in terms of its safety and reliability, increasing trust in the system, given the need to protect ethical principles and maintain fundamental values.