AI, E-Commerce Test Limits of the Reasonable Consumer Standard

Ceren Canal Aruoba discusses how the move from shared advertising to microtargeted marketing makes the reasonable consumer standard increasingly complex. In today’s fragmented digital landscape, consumers receive vastly different information, raising questions about what “reasonable” means in context. As segmentation deepens, she argues that courts will need empirical tools like consumer surveys to assess alleged deception. She also notes that integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into the consumer purchase journey could blur traditional decision-making roles, challenging the assumption that consumers remain the primary actors in purchases.