AI 中文总结
本研究通过混合方法审计德国100家初创企业并访谈63位专家，揭示AI粉饰的三种形式及伦理关联，建议将AI营销主张纳入披露要求以规范市场。
AI 中文摘要
AI粉饰是将“AI”用作营销术语，夸大产品主张以吸引投资者和消费者的炒作。本文研究初创企业如何营销AI以及人们对这些主张的认知。我们对德国初创企业市场进行审计，采用包含七个维度的注释代码手册对100家初创企业进行分析，并开展63次专家访谈。初创企业以三种形式夸大AI能力：无可核查证据的主张、无方法的性能数据、无公认限制的主张。它们声称的能力很少与底层系统匹配，此前遭遇过夸大主张的消费者会对后续AI营销失去信任。AI粉饰还与不道德产品的营销相关：样本中38%的企业因中度或严重伦理问题被标记，涉及监控、受监管领域的自动化决策等领域。这些发现共同揭示了AI粉饰的发生机制：创始人夸大能力以吸引无法验证AI品牌的投资者，而不熟悉相关领域的消费者会轻信营销内容。我们建议将初创企业的AI主张纳入披露要求，并向监管机构、投资者和消费者保护机构提供该代码手册用于常规审计。
英文摘要
AI-washing is the use of 'AI' as a marketing term where products' claims are exaggerated, likely to capture the hype from investors and consumers. In this paper, we examine how startups market AI and how people perceive those claims. We audited the German startup market, applying an annotation codebook of seven dimensions to 100 startups and conducting 63 expert interviews. Startups exaggerated AI capability in three forms: claims without inspectable evidence, performance numbers without methodology, and claims without acknowledged limits. The capabilities they claimed rarely matched the underlying system, and consumers who had encountered exaggerated claims before withdrew trust from later AI marketing. AI-washing has also been linked to the marketing of unethical products: 38% of the sample were flagged for moderate or serious ethical concern, in domains such as surveillance and automated decisions in regulated fields. Together these findings show how AI-washing happens: founders exaggerate capability to attract investors who reward AI branding they cannot verify, and consumers in unfamiliar domains take the marketing at face value. We recommend that startup AI claims be brought under disclosure requirements, with the codebook offered to regulators, investors, and consumer-protection bodies for routine audits.
CommentsAccepted at AIES 2026
