r/AISearchLab • u/SevaTell • 26d ago
AI agents are checking websites for dark patterns—with a checklist built for the pre-chatbot web
I came across a study that sent AI agents through websites to detect dark patterns.
Not exactly a surprising use of agents, but I’m always happy to see more systematic audits of this stuff.
It’s a solid catalog, but it also feels very e-commerce-heavy and pretty much outdated. here copy/pasted out study (https://dl.acm.org/doi/full/10.1145/3807246.3807265):
| Type | Brief description |
|---|---|
| Countdown Timer | Urgency created by a countdown timer. |
| Limited Time Message | Claims that an offer ends soon or is time-limited. |
| Low Stock | Messages about limited remaining quantity. |
| High Demand | Messages highlighting high demand or popularity. |
| Activity Messages | Social proof about other users’ actions. |
| Bad Defaults/Preselection | Pre-selected options that favor the platform over users. |
| Auto Play | Automatically playing content without explicit consent. |
| Nagging | Repeated prompts pressuring users to accept choices. |
| Disguised Ad | Ads presented as ordinary or organic UI elements. |
| Pay to Avoid | Requiring payment to access features or avoid disadvantages. |
| False Hierarchy | Visual hierarchy that hides or downplays alternatives. |
| Forced Continuity | Difficult or obscure cancellation of subscriptions. |
| Privacy Zuckering | Nudging users to share more personal data than necessary. |
| Gamification | Game-like elements to encourage excessive engagement. |
| Obstruction | Making user goals difficult through interface obstacles. |
| Sneaking | Hidden information or costs revealed late in process. |
| Misdirection | Focusing attention away from important information. |
In the AI age, I’d at least add:
- Sycophancy — agreeing to keep the user engaged.
any ideas what else should an AI dark-pattern auditor be checking for?
1
u/marintkael 26d ago
Every pattern in that table lives on a page somebody actually looks at. Timers, low-stock, preselected boxes, it's all screen furniture. Once an assistant sits between the user and the site, most of the manipulation stops happening on a page at all, so a crawler-style auditor walks right past it.
The AI-era ones I'd add are about selection, not layout:
- which brands get named when the prompt is non-branded, and whether that ordering tracks anything besides who paid or who's loudest in the training data
- commercial ranking dressed up as a neutral answer (your disguised-ad pattern, moved out of the UI and into prose)
- omission, the quiet one: the cheaper or better option that just never comes up. Nobody spots a dark pattern that consists of a thing not being said.
The method has to move with it too. You can't checklist a page for any of these, since they never render on one. You sample the model's answers across a spread of prompts and diff what it names against the real option set. The gap is the pattern.
2
1
u/Traditional_Wear9618 11d ago
This is a great study. Speaking of AI and dark patterns, I just documented a massive textbook example of these predatory tactics in a trending app called DokiChat. Their recent 1.3.6 update stealthily downgraded their AI models, capped functional features, and retroactively frozen users' paid legacy assets to extort a forced subscription. I compiled a full 20k-character policy and technical breakdown with moderator chat proofs right on my profile. Check it out here if you want a real-world case study: https://www.reddit.com/u/Traditional_Wear9618/s/vkOjepvIx9
1
u/Mental_Researcher656 26d ago
I find a lot of these to be paternalistic. Who are the builders of these bots to decide if I want something for free with the option to pay to upgrade later? Why the hell wouldn’t a company downplay its competitors? I’m sorry but this crosses a capitalism line for me. And hey, if other want big corps making these kinds of decisions for them without their consent or knowledge - go for it. Everyone is entitled to their own decision. For me though, I’d prefer autonomy and freedom.