AUTONOMY UNDER ATTACK: LEGAL CHALLENGES OF BEHAVIORAL MANIPULATION THROUGH AI AND DATA PROFILING

As the incorporation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems into either side of the digital divide contributes to unprecedented capabilities and levels of threat to individuals' autonomy, it must be recognized that behavioural profiling and algorithmic persuasion enabled by modern day AI systems will be exploiting the outputs of an increasingly authorless and undetermined human future.It will open up an entirely new means of blocking or manipulating user decision-making, an existential violation of human self-determination which every liberal democracy has sought to protect.This paper will consider the emerging legal tribulations posed by these manipulative technologies, especially in light of lesser legal doctrines that are inadequate to address digital coercion and at its extreme, the invasion of the means of social interaction.Focusing on the data-led influence of AI, rather than the fabric beneath the terms 'trace', 'predict', powered by just the raw capacity of algorithms, examining important contexts (autonomy related), and developing a full overview, we illuminate the glaring deficiencies in the regulatory frameworks, notably the GDPR and the limitations of traditional areas of consent and agency where one or both parties have the power to influence the decision of the individual or group.Through an inter-disciplinary vantage point drawing on law and recent developments in ethics and technology, we will argue for the legal provision for the right to algorithmic autonomy as a response to the increasing asymmetry of human decision-making and machine driven behavioural design.In light of these universal barriers, we conclude with tangible legal reform options that aim to foster dignity and decisional sovereignty in an increasingly code driven world.