CFP: AAAI SSS-26 Bracing for the Enshittification of Embodied AI and Robotics
Paul Robinette
Bracing for the Enshittification of Embodied AI and Robotics
In November 2022, Cory Doctorow coined the term “enshittification” to viscerally describe the process by which two-sided marketplaces (i.e., platforms that connect buyers and sellers) have tended to degrade over the past decades, leading users on both sides of the market to experience a worse product. In its most basic form, enshittification describes the intentional decline of platform quality over time. Robots intended for home consumer use are often social in nature and use social interaction and relationship norms to keep users engaged. Turning such robots into two-sided market platforms, where users and advertisers both become targets of monetization, poses unique and significant risks. Unlike static smart or connected devices, social robots actively engage users via gaze, gesture, language, and dialog, which makes them uniquely persuasive forms of technology. This raises unique potential risks related to deception and manipulation of end-users. This symposium will not focus on enumerating potential negative outcomes; instead, we will use these examples to motivate and support methods that AI researchers in particular can use to address enshittification before it takes over the embodied AI and robotics fields.
Committee: Paul Robinette (UMass Lowell), Alan Wagner (Penn State University), Ross Mead (Semio), Samantha Reig (UMass Lowell).
Potential topics include but are not limited to:
Case studies of dual-sided AI deployments
Privacy-aware AI
Ensuring trustworthy behavior of AI systems
AI Ethics/Responsible Computing
Discussion of societal impacts of robots that enshittify.
Consideration of the inequities caused by devices that advertise relentlessly.
Discussion of a research agenda to anticipate and prevent the enshittification of robots that provide services (e.g., in public, in homes).
Affective manipulation by consumer products and AI driven technologies
The symposium will combine invited talks, panels, lightning talks, poster sessions, discussion sessions, and working sessions. Attendance is open to all who are interested. At least one author of each accepted paper is expected to attend.
Submissions should be to https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=sss26 by January 30, 2026. Papers should be 2–4 pages in length and use the two-column AAAI format. Selected papers will be asked to present as a lightning talk, panel discussion, and/or poster. Check the website for more information.
Please direct questions to enshittifica...@gmail.com.
Symposium website: https://sites.google.com/view/bracing-for-enshittification/home