ManipulationDetect: An AI Auditing Tool for Online Choice Architecture

Richard Mills (), Stuart Mills () and Cass Sunstein ()
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Richard Mills: University of Nottingham
Stuart Mills: University of Leeds
Cass Sunstein: Harvard University

No 2025-04, Discussion Papers from The Centre for Decision Research and Experimental Economics, School of Economics, University of Nottingham

Abstract: Policymakers and regulators are increasingly interested in behavioural auditing tools to counteract manipulative designs in Online Choice Architecture (OCA). To date, auditing tools have been largely manual, creating a trade-off between time, cost, and scale. This article presents a tool called ‘ManipulationDetect’, an internet browser plug-in that uses AI to detect, highlight, and record potentially manipulative OCA techniques in real-time. We offer a technical overview of how ManipulationDetect works, present an example audit which demonstrates the tool’s advantages, and highlight important practical next steps for further development.

Keywords: AI; tool; manipulation; OCA; policymakers; regulations (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-12
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