Bullying an AI? Misbehavior toward an AI moral patient in interactive marketing

Purpose We examined how people perceive artificial intelligence (AI) as a moral patient – the target of morally wrong actions by humans. Design/methodology/approach We did a thorough literature review by integrating perspectives from the literature on marketing, management and human–AI interaction and proposed the theoretical framework. Findings Following this notion, we spotlighted a novel typology by classifying different situations in which AI is most likely to be involved in ethical issues and combined the perceived experience of AI with the moral intensity of the tasks performed by AI. Furthermore, we outlined the mechanisms that lead to people's misbehavior toward AI, by examining the extrinsic cost and intrinsic psychological cost of misbehavior. Originality/value AI is rapidly changing the way service encounters take place and transforming people's overall experience. Although interactions between humans and AI are gradually becoming part of individuals' everyday lives, people's moral consideration of AI and their ethical behavior toward it is still unclear. Therefore, our research enhances the understanding of how AI-related ethical issues.