ABSTRACT
As there is now a reasonable prospect that some digital assistant applications might become available for consumer use, the question this contribution seeks to ask whether, and to what extent, their arrival will affect UK Consumer Law. Answering this has multiple aspects: first, fundamentally, there it will be necessary to analyse what this development would mean for the nature of consumer transacting, particular its impact on consumer autonomy; secondly, if analysing reveals that there is a need to introduce new legal rules, or modify existing rules, to capture any new features brought about by the use of digital assistants by consumers (or contract automation generally). Thirdly, there is a deeper question as to whether the fundamental assumptions underpinning consumer law are at least open for re-examination, eg, the assumption that consumers are informationally disadvantaged.
Furthermore, if new legal rules are required or at least desirable to deal with the consumer protection aspects of digital assistants, then thought will need to given as to the shape such rules might take. It will be argued below that the recent ELI DACC model rules are innovative and that they provide a template for developing UK consumer law. The DACC are a good example of how innovation not only produces technological advances but also provides an opportunity for innovation in shaping Consumer Law.
Twigg-Flesner, Christian, Digital Assistants and Consumer Law – Disruption or Innovation? (July 18, 2025) in C Twigg-Flesner and J Devenney (eds), Disruption, Innovation and Realignment in UK Consumer Law and Policy (Hart, 2026).
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