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Hundreds of millions of people consult artificial intelligence chatbots<\/a> on a daily basis for everything from product recommendations to romance, making them a tempting audience to target with potentially below-the-radar advertising. Indeed, our research suggests AI chatbots could easily be used for covert advertising to manipulate their human users.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Tech companies have made ads part of nearly every large free web service, video channel, and social media platform. But the latest AI models could take this practice to a new level of risk<\/a> for consumers.<\/p>\n People don\u2019t simply use chatbots to search for information and media or to produce content. They turn to the bots for a great variety of tasks, as complex as life advice and emotional support. People are increasingly treating chatbots as companions<\/a> and therapists<\/a>, with some users even developing deep relationships with AI<\/a>.<\/p>\n In these circumstances, people can easily forget that companies ultimately create chatbots to turn a profit. And to that end, AI companies are motivated to thoroughly profile users so ads become more effective and profitable.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n