# Imposing AI: Deceptive design patterns against sustainability

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.08672 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.08672/

## Key facts

- Cited by 2 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 11 of its 47 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 12 Aug 2025.

## Builds on (most cited first, 11 of 11)

- [Estimating the Carbon Footprint of BLOOM, a 176B Parameter Language Model](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2211.02001/) (2022)
- [Power Hungry Processing: Watts Driving the Cost of AI Deployment?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.16863/) (2023)
- [Hype, Sustainability, and the Price of the Bigger-is-Better Paradigm in AI](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.14160/) (2024)
- [From Efficiency Gains to Rebound Effects: The Problem of Jevons' Paradox in AI's Polarized Environmental Debate](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.16548/) (2025)
- [The Social Impact of Generative AI: An Analysis on ChatGPT](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.04667/) (2024)
- [What Makes a Dark Pattern... Dark? Design Attributes, Normative Considerations, and Measurement Methods](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2101.04843/) (2021)
- [An Ontology of Dark Patterns Knowledge: Foundations, Definitions, and a Pathway for Shared Knowledge-Building](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.09640/) (2023)
- [Characterizing and modeling harms from interactions with design patterns in AI interfaces](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.11370/) (2024)
- [Watching the Generative AI Hype Bubble Deflate](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.08778/) (2024)
- [AI, Climate, and Transparency: Operationalizing and Improving the AI Act](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.07471/) (2024)
- [How Green Can AI Be? A Study of Trends in Machine Learning Environmental Impacts](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.17376/) (2024)

## Built on by (most cited first, 2 of 2)

- [The Global Landscape of Environmental AI Regulation: From the Cost of Reasoning to a Right to Green AI](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.00068/) (2026)
- [Wasted large language models: A life cycle thinking approach](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.17055/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Generative AI is being massively deployed in digital services, at a scale that will result in significant environmental harm. We document how tech companies are transforming established user interfaces to impose AI use and show how and to what extent these strategies fit within established deceptive pattern categories. We identify two main design strategies that are implemented to impose AI use in both personal and professional contexts: imposing AI features in interfaces at the expense of existing non-AI features and promoting narratives about AI that make it harder to resist using it. We discuss opportunities for regulating the imposed adoption of AI features, which would inevitably lead to negative environmental effects.