Extensive data collection, coercive monetization, emotional manipulation -- these may all sound familiar from the realm of social media, but they live in AI chatbot products too. cdt.org/insights/dar...

Dark Patterns in AI Chatbots: A Taxonomy to Inform Better Design

In this report, CDT Research draws on prior work in human-computer interaction and deceptive design disciplines to investigate how established dark patterns documented in other digital technology cont...

cdt.org

Let’s start from the end: what Anthropic did here is not qualitative research. Is it an impressive scale for a free-response field survey? Yes. An interesting way to collect user feedback en masse? Absolutely. Qualitative research? Not quite. 🧵 1/

New piece by @mluria.bsky.social and me on what today's hearing on kids' safety is missing: the perspectives of parents and teens who are deeply skeptical of whether these bills will meet their needs. Huge thanks to @viacristiano.bsky.social for his sharp edits. www.techpolicy.press/congress-chi...

Congress’ Child Safety Bills Sound Good. Families Suggest They Won't Work.

Lawmakers risk advancing bills that may not be effective nor in line with what some parents and teens actually want, Michal Luria and Aliya Bhatia write.

techpolicy.press

In @compiler.news, CDT’s @mluria.bsky.social & Amy Winecoff warn that major AI labs are quietly optimizing chatbots for engagement — despite public claims to the contrary. As financial pressures rise, companies risk prioritizing stickiness over safety, even for vulnerable users.

If AI companies truly cared about “healthy engagement,” they’d design for healthy disengagement. Most aren’t, write @mluria.bsky.social and Amy Winecoff from @cdt.org.

A.I. labs want more of your time. That's a problem.

Healthy disengagement — not stickiness — should become a core safety feature within AI chatbots.

compiler.news

Delighted to share my collaboration with @aliyabhatia.bsky.social on research that grounds online safety debates in what families actually say they need and value. We touched on four key topics: age verification, feed controls, screen-time features and parental access.

Center for Democracy & Technology@cdt.org · 9mo ago

CDT released new research on what teens & parents actually want from social media safety features. CDT’s @mluria.bsky.social & @aliyabhatia.bsky.social found that many policy proposals—like strict age checks or rigid time limits—often feel intrusive, ineffective, or disconnected from family needs.

I receive so many questions about what research in civil society is like -- Join our virtual panel to hear more about exactly that! @cdt.org @datasociety.bsky.social @aclu.org With @thakurdhanaraj.bsky.social @alicetiara.bsky.social and @mkgerchick.bsky.social To register: cdt.org/event/advoca...

Advocating with Evidence: Lessons for Tech Researchers in Civil Society

Advocating with Evidence: Lessons for Tech Researchers in Civil Society November 13, 2025, 10-11am ET online Civil society is struggling to address how technology and the tech industry contribute to e...

cdt.org

Guests @zevesanderson.com, CDT Research Fellow @mluria.bsky.social, and guest host @aliyabhatia.bsky.social unpack what users really think about age checks, how they shape online behavior, and what’s at stake for balancing child safety with digital rights.

Tech Talks: Age Verification

In this episode of Tech Talks, we dive into the growing debate over online age verification. While often framed as a way to protect children, these policies carry major implications for how everyone, adults and children alike, accesses the internet. Unlike showing an ID at a bar, online age checks can require the collection and […]

cdt.org

🚨 NEW BLOG led by CDT Intern @adinawa.bsky.social, with CDT’s Ruchika Joshi & @mluria.bsky.social, explores dark patterns in conversational AI — subtle design tricks in tools like ChatGPT, Replika & Character.AI that influence spending, attention, & data sharing:

AI-Powered Deception: A Deeper Dimension of Dark Design Patterns in Conversational AI Tools and Platforms 

This post was led by CDT Intern Adinawa Adjagbodjou Have you ever struggled to cancel a subscription you didn’t know you were enrolled in? Or have you been invited to join a platform by a friend only to discover that it was the site impersonating someone in your contact list? If so, you’ve encountered a […]

cdt.org

It’s not every day that UX researcher whistleblowers testify before the Senate. Yesterday, two former Meta researchers, Jason Sattizahn and Cayce Savage, shared their concerns with safety research for Meta VR products, and more broadly within Meta. So how does UX research move on from here? 🧵

With a wave of tragic headlines about AI-related deaths and lawsuits it's critical to reconsider the design choices that enable this -- as a first, stir away from intentionally humanlike chatbots.

Tech Policy Press@techpolicypress.bsky.social · 11mo ago

In the wake of numerous reports of interactions with AI chatbots that resulted in deadly consequences, the Center for Democracy & Technology's Dr. Michal Luria says AI firms should stop designing products that pretend to be human.

We used a Design Research approach (#speeddating) to test scenarios currently being proposed and debated in policy circles with teens and parents. Here is what we found on age verification approaches 👉 Full report on all topics, including screen-time features and algorithm controls coming soon.

Center for Democracy & Technology@cdt.org · 11mo ago

CDT’s @mluria.bsky.social + @aliyabhatia.bsky.social's interviews with families reveal concerns about privacy, efficacy, & the need for transparent, user-centered approaches that support both agency & parental discretion. Read more:

CDT’s @mluria.bsky.social + @aliyabhatia.bsky.social's interviews with families reveal concerns about privacy, efficacy, & the need for transparent, user-centered approaches that support both agency & parental discretion. Read more:

Teen and Parent Perspectives on Approaches to Age Verification

Age verification (AV) is being rolled out by online services to comply with new laws in Europe and across states in the United States. Proposed legislation at the federal level in the U.S., such as the Kids Off Social Media Act and the Kids Online Safety Act, may also result in increased adoption of AV […]

cdt.org

Instead of hearing Senate Judiciary Committee members paint a sensational picture about social media, read what over 20 researchers and experts say can actually move the needle on sustainable and equitable policymaking that benefits all young people w/ @mluria.bsky.social: cdt.org/insights/the...

The Kids are Online: Research-Driven Insights on Child Safety Policy

Executive Summary This report summarizes the key discussions and insights from an in-person symposium held in September 2024 on the topic of children’s online safety policy. The event convened academi...

cdt.org

Check out CDT’s latest report, led by @mluria.bsky.social and also starring @arianaaboulafia.bsky.social and me, on disabled workers’ experiences with gamified hiring tests, AI scored video interviews, and other modern digitized employment assessments.

Center for Democracy & Technology@cdt.org · 2y ago

AI-powered hiring technologies are transforming recruitment, but are they inclusive? CDT’s latest report dives into the ethical and legal risks of digitized assessments, particularly their impact on disabled job applicants. cdt.org/insights/scr...