Hakuhodo DY Holdings Announces Paper Accepted by Leading Ethics Journal "Ethics and Information Technology"

Hakuhodo DY Holdings Inc. (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Yasuo Nishiyama) is pleased to announce that a paper authored by Seiichi Idatani, Senior Researcher at the company's research and development division, the Marketing Technology Center (MTC), has been accepted by "Ethics and Information Technology" (E&IT), a specialized academic journal in the ethics of information technology.

E&IT is a highly impactful leading academic journal, ranked 4th out of 78 journals in the field of ethics by Clarivate's Journal Citation Reports (2025 Impact Factor: 5.5), and 99th out of 1030 journals in the applied computer science field by Scopus's SJR ranking (2025 SJR: 1.509).

Background of the Research

MTC conducts broad research and development on technologies related to marketing, tackling various challenges including collaboration with universities and academic institutions. To sustainably utilize ever-evolving marketing technologies, ad technologies, and artificial intelligence in business, it is necessary to quickly identify the ethical, legal, and social issues these technologies bring and take countermeasures in advance. Based on this awareness of issues, MTC has been continuously conducting research on laws and ethics for the appropriate use of consumer data since 2013.

Over the past year or so, AI that constantly stays close to users, acquires data, and uses that data to make proactive suggestions to make their entire lives more convenient (referred to in this paper as "Anticipatory Companion AI" or ACAI) has begun to be proposed. Simultaneously, with the growing presence of AI as an entry point for consumer information search behavior, "marketing for AI" has also garnered attention. This paper points out that new ethical issues, which cannot be captured by conventional theories, arise when ACAI and marketing for AI intersect.

Paper Overview

Title: Marketing to Machines: The Fiduciary Illusion in Anticipatory Companion AI

Journal: Ethics and Information Technology (Springer Nature)

Author: Seiichi Idatani

(Hakuhodo DY Holdings Inc. / Chuo University ELSI Center / Information Law and Policy Research Institute)

DOI: 10.1007/s10676-026-09912-2

This paper clarifies how ACAI differs from previous recommendation systems and agent AIs, and analyzes the new ethical issues arising from the intersection of ACAI and marketing for AI, naming it the "fiduciary illusion." It urges the prompt consideration of ethics and countermeasures based on the characteristics of ACAI. As one example of such countermeasures, it proposes the "right to vanilla AI," which guarantees users the ability to select an ACAI at any time that is "plain," free from the influence of personalization and marketing.

Future Outlook

For marketing activities that respect consumer freedom, autonomy, and diversity, it is necessary not only to develop technology but also to identify the various issues that technology brings and discuss countermeasures. MTC will continue to strive for research and development to contribute to the appropriate development and social implementation of marketing technology, as part of the activities of HCAI Professionals, Hakuhodo DY Group's cross-organizational AI expert group.

* SJR

Abbreviation for SCImago Journal Rank. A journal metric created using Google's PageRank algorithm to evaluate journals, taking into account the importance of the citing journal.