Use of artificial intelligence to enable dark nudges by transnational food and beverage companies: analysis of company documents

Abstract

Objective: To describe the use of artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled dark nudges by leading global food and beverage companies to influence consumer behaviour. Design: The five most recent annual reports (ranging from 2014–2018 or 2015–2019, depending on the company) and websites from 12 of the leading companies in the global food and beverage industry were reviewed to identify uses of AI and emerging technologies to influence consumer behaviour. Uses of AI and emerging technologies were categorised according to the Typology of Interventions in Proximal Physical Micro-Environments (TIPPME) framework, a tool for categorising and describing nudge-type behaviour change interventions (which has also previously been used to describe dark nudge-type approaches used by the alcohol industry). Setting: Not applicable. Participants: 12 leading companies in the global food and beverage industry. Results: Text was extracted from 56 documents from 11 companies. AI-enabled dark nudges used by food and beverage companies included those that altered products and objects’ availability (e.g., social listening to inform product development), position (e.g., decision technology and facial recognition to manipulate the position of products on menu boards), functionality (e.g., decision technology to prompt further purchases based on current selections) and presentation (e.g., augmented or virtual reality to deliver engaging and immersive marketing). Conclusions: Public health practitioners and policymakers must understand and engage with these technologies and tactics if they are to counter industry promotion of products harmful to health, particularly as investment by the industry in AI and other emerging technologies suggests their use will continue to grow.

Behind the ‘creative destruction’ of human diets: An analysis of the structure and market dynamics of the ultra‐processed food manufacturing industry and implications for public health

“…More broadly, large UPF corporations have generally been very innovative at tailoring their marketing strategies to local cultural conditions (i.e., ‘glocalisation’) and regulatory environments (e.g., through the use of cross‐promotional techniques), as well as at taking advantage of major social movements (e.g., women empowerment) and world‐changing events (e.g., the fall of the Berlin Wall and the COVID‐19 pandemic) (Baker et al, 2020; Global Health Advocacy Incubator, 2020; Knai et al, 2018; Prügl, 2019). In recent years, their ability to market in innovative and effective ways has clearly been facilitated by digital marketing, artificial intelligence and neuropsychology technologies (Brooks et al, 2022; Rollins et al, 2023).…”

Power and Other Commercial Determinants of Health: An Empirical Study of the Australian Food, Alcohol, and Gambling Industries

“…Food, alcohol and gambling industries significantly affect the health and well-being of Australians. Together, industries' power shapes consumer's relevant decision-making environments, [36][37][38][39] and important health, social, and political discourses. 18,[40][41][42][43] The following sections discuss the findings of this study in the context of Wood and colleagues' framework.…”

“…Food, alcohol and gambling industries significantly affect the health and well-being of Australians. Together, industries’ power shapes consumer’s relevant decision-making environments, 36 - 39 and important health, social, and political discourses. 18 , 40 - 43 …”

Leveraging artificial intelligence to advance implementation science: potential opportunities and cautions

“…However, such AI applications can also inadvertently promote harmful behaviors. For example, AI has been leveraged to create tailored messages or nudges to increase consumer uptake of unhealthy food and beverages [ 97 ]. AI can learn and adapt its messaging over time, thus posing the potential for messages originally well-intended to encourage inadvertent harm.…”