Hello dark patterns, my old friend

For Tech’s Sake · Jan 25, 2023 · 1h 11m

‘Dark patterns’ are design techniques used to weaponise user behaviour and manipulate us into delivering on a company’s goals. They have become so common that they are even namechecked in the EU’s new legislation to clamp down on nefarious user design in tech. Even though understanding them won’t make you impervious to their influence, we certainly think it’s best to know when your taking action for your sake, or for tech’s sake.

In this episode, we also spoke to Prof Owen Conlan, a research lead at Adapt, the Science Foundation Ireland research centre for AI-driven digital content…