Issue Scenario: affective nudging is regulated as a behavioral intervention

Summary

Another NTT DATA scenario imagines regulators treating emotionally persuasive AI much as they treat medicines. Governments would classify certain forms of affective nudging or influence engineering as regulated behavioural interventions. The report labels this pharmaceutical-level regulation of systems that shape behaviour. It follows from the concern that emotion-aware systems embedded in daily life could be used to steer people as well as to support them. The report identifies two central uncertainties, namely who would decide which influence is harmful and which beneficial, and whether countries could agree on common rules for affective AI. The scenario signals that companies using emotional persuasion may face tighter oversight in future.