The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Ethical Marketing

Pascal Stiefenhofer ()
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Pascal Stiefenhofer: Newcastle University, Economics

Chapter Chapter 6 in Conscious Consumption, 2026, pp 307-339 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract This chapter examines the role of Artificial intelligence at the intersection of ethics and marketing, integrating conceptual analysis with applied institutional and technological contexts. Building directly on the previous chapter’s topological model of moral agency, the analysis shifts from ethical consumption as a feature of democratic political economy to ethical computation as a mediating layer through which moral values are operationalized, communicated, and transformed in market settings. In doing so, the chapter conceptualizes AI as a socio-technical infrastructure that actively reshapes the normative manifold of contemporary economic and cultural life. The chapter begins by situating Artificial intelligence within its historical and technical development, outlining key paradigms, system components, and unresolved epistemic and ethical challenges. It then turns to ethical AI technologies, examining tensions arising in natural language processing, computer vision-based surveillance, and the expanded moral responsibilities introduced by generative AI systems. These technologies are analyzed not merely as tools of optimization, but as systems that structure attention, perception, and interpretive authority. The discussion subsequently focuses on marketing as the principal domain in which ethical consumption is translated into practice at scale. Marketing is examined in its dual role as an extension of economic reasoning and as a cultural and organizational infrastructure of persuasion, prediction, and meaning-making. Ethical challenges in AI-driven marketing are explored through philosophical frameworks, applied cases, and institutional practices, revealing trajectories that range from normatively constructive to ethically ambiguous to democratically corrosive. Particular attention is paid to consumer-facing issues of trust, transparency, and accountability, culminating in the development of a conceptual model for ethical AI marketing. The chapter concludes by arguing for a transition from smart selling to moral storytelling. In this framing, Artificial intelligence is understood not simply as a mechanism of efficiency or personalization, but as a normative medium through which values are embedded, legitimacy is negotiated, and responsible consumer engagement is cultivated within democratic societies.

Date: 2026
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-3-032-22336-4_6

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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-032-22336-4_6

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