The ethical and legal challenges of recommender systems driven by artificial intelligence

In a hyperconnected world, recommendation systems (RS) are one of the most widespread commercial applications of artificial intelligence (AI), initially mostly used for e-commerce, but already widely applied to different areas, for instance, content providers and social media platforms. Due to the current information overload, these systems are designed mainly to help individuals dealing with the infinity of options available, in addition to optimizing companies’ profits by offering products and services that directly meet the needs of their customers. However, despite its benefits, RS based on AI may also create detrimental effects—sometimes unforeseen—for users and society, especially for vulnerable groups. Constant tracking of users, automated analysis of personal data to predict and infer behaviours, preferences, future actions and characteristic, the creation of behavioural profiles and the microtargeting for personalized recommendations may raise relevant ethical and legal issues, such as discriminatory outcomes, lack of transparency and explanation of algorithmic decisions that impact people’s lives and unfair violations of privacy and data protection. This article aims to address these issues, through a multisectoral, multidisciplinary and human rights’-based approach, including contributions from the Law, ethics, technology, market, and society.