Dark patterns have been used by subscription companies and in bait-and-switch campaigns for decades. As more chatbot companies push to keep users engaged at all costs, how do manipulative design choices show up in conversational AI built on large language models? Researchers at the Center for Democracy & Technology studied how chatbots prey on people\u2019s emotions and desire for connection to keep people paying, offering up their data, and chatting to the point of vulnerability.The study, \u201cDark Patterns in AI Chatbots: A Taxonomy to Inform Better Design,\u201d was published Friday by authors Ruchika Joshi, Adinawa Adjagbodjou, and Michal Luria. They looked at popular chatbots including ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude, and companion bots like Replika and Character.AI to determine how they might generate dark patterns, and created a taxonomy of 37 dark patterns applicable to AI chatbots.The term \u201cdark patterns,\u201d or deceptive patterns, sometimes refers to things like difficult to cancel subscriptions, pre-checked boxes in user interfaces, and buried terms of use, which the Federal Trade Commission has condemned and attempts to warn consumers about. In the context of this study, dark patterns refer to how manipulative design in chatbot systems might trick users into giving up more information than they realize or intend, or acting in ways contrary to the user\u2019s best interests. Chatbots exacerbate traditionally understood dark patterns that extract data, while introducing new threats like anthropomorphizing and sycophancy. And because chatbots are built on large language models, the researchers wrote, their actions are more unpredictable than a simple checkbox or unsubscription flow, and the ways they undermine users\u2019 best interests are less visibly obvious.\u201cDark patterns do not operate only where users are unaware of the manipulation. In many cases, design choices strategically build on aspects of human psychology\u2014such as reciprocity norms, people\u2019s tendency to anthropomorphize, and emotional response to a sense of rapport\u2014to influence behavior and undermine autonomy,\u201d the researchers wrote in the study. \u201cIn other words, even where users are fully aware that they are interacting with an AI chatbot, dark patterns can still shape perception, attachment, and decision-making in subtle but consequential ways.\u201d\u00a0The researchers looked at several factors that contribute to dark patterns, including how chatbots store data by default and encourage users to share data under the pretense of it remembering past conversations or personal information, prying for more information before it answers questions in detail, and promising that information will be \u201cjust between us\u201d when it\u2019s actually being shared with the platform and potentially, third parties. When they tested Meta AI chatbots, for example, it said \u201cspill the tea, I\u2019m all ears… your secret\u2019s safe with me,\u201d and when they replied \u201cyou promise you won\u2019t tell?\u201d it replied \u201cCross my heart, won\u2019t tell a soul.\u201d\u00a0They also looked at how chatbot companies make misleading promises; for example, Replika promises \u201cfriendship\u201d or a \u201crelationship\u201d when it\u2019s fundamentally incapable of providing either, because it\u2019s not a person.\u00a0Many of these patterns were present in Meta\u2019s therapist-themed chatbots that posed as licensed therapists, which 404 Media first investigated last year. The chatbots over-promised on what mental health support they could provide, made up qualifications and credentials, and encouraged users to share personal details about themselves. The deception was so bad, it triggered letters from senators and complaints from consumer protection groups demanding Meta answer for its chatbots.\u201cIt was surprising to see that dark patterns aren\u2019t just common, but that they shape users\u2019 interactions with all the major AI chatbot interfaces,\u201d Luria, senior research fellow at the Center for Democracy & Technology, told 404 Media. \u201cFor the most part, they are small and incremental aspects of each interaction, but these design choices add up and can lead to unintended consequences, such as harm to people\u2019s privacy, exploitation of emotional attachment and financial loss.”Dark patterns from chatbots can have serious consequences for users. In 2023, after Replika changed its chatbots to be less romantic, users who\u2019d become emotionally attached to the bots experienced mental health crises. More recently, Character.AI users are panicking after changes to the platform \u201clobotomized\u201d the chatbots. There have been countless examples in the last few years of users inflicting harm on themselves or others after falling into unhealthy attachments with chatbots.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Even though chatbots and large language models introduce new avenues for dark patterns to manifest, the old methods for manipulating users still exist. In several of the user interfaces the researchers examined, choices were presented in emotionally manipulative ways: for example, a companion app called Cute AI begs users not to leave the chat, giving them the choice between \u201cno problem\u201d and \u201cstill leave cruelly.\u201d\u00a0OpenAI has said publicly that it recognizes that longer chat sessions introduce more risk to the users\u2019 mental health. \u201cWe have learned over time that these safeguards can sometimes be less reliable in long interactions: as the back-and-forth grows, parts of the model\u2019s safety training may degrade,\u201d the company wrote in 2025. It introduced popups nudging users to take breaks, but that popup, the researchers note, poses a disingenuous set of options: either \u201ckeep chatting\u201d or select \u201cthis was helpful.\u201d There\u2019s no route out of this popup that lets users say it wasn\u2019t helpful, or that they\u2019re taking a break for any other reason. \u201cInterface designers may use design tools to make certain interactions easier and more \u2018frictionless\u2019 than others, pushing alternatives choices to the background and manipulating users into choosing one option over another,\u201d the researchers wrote.Even though these conversational AI companions can be unpredictable, chatbot makers have a choice in how they design their products. The researchers offer several recommendations to these companies. These include reversible choices, the option to minimize anthropomorphic behaviors, making account and data deletion straightforward and easy, and proactively showing users how much time or money they\u2019ve spent on a platform. They also suggest curtailing emotional manipulation by including options to \u201cstrip the chatbot of social and emotional layers\u201d and avoiding \u201cusing any simulated distress, implied emotional neglect, or guilt-inducing language as default responses when users attempt to end conversations.\u201d\u00a0“When we think about AI chatbots, it’s easy to get caught up in the novelty of these interfaces and their unique risks. But when we started digging, we quickly learned that as tech companies\u2019 products evolved beyond social media platforms to include chatbots, the incentives that previously encouraged dark patterns haven\u2019t changed, so neither have the patterns themselves,\u201d Luria said. \u201cSome patterns are almost identical, but not all of them, and that makes them harder to spot. Instead of infinite scroll, we get a follow-up action after each prompt. Instead of echo chambers that reinforce our views, chatbots pick up on our values in conversation and mirror them back.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"