Manipulative AI Is Banned. Here's What That Means.

I love marketing. Selling good products to people who need them is honest work. So let me be precise about what the EU AI Act bans, because it isn't marketing.

Banned: AI that uses sneaky or subliminal techniques to distort someone's behavior in ways that cause harm. Also banned: exploiting vulnerabilities, like someone's age, disability, or financial desperation, to push them into harmful decisions.

The line is harm plus trickery. A good ad persuades you with the lights on. A manipulative system bypasses your judgment entirely, aiming for the moment you're weakest and least able to push back.

Persuasion respects the person on the other side. Manipulation treats them as a lever to pull. The Act bans the lever, and honestly, good marketers should be fine with that.

I explain frameworks; I don't give legal counsel.