An interactive scrollytelling site exploring a theoretical chapter from my PhD thesis, Virtual Bargaining with Asymmetric Bargaining Power (VB-ANBS), through the lens of human–AI interaction.
VB-ANBS models bargaining power as a confrontation between two psychological forces: one agent's inducing force acting on another, and the other's resisting force reacting to that influence. When a bargaining procedure — like the ability to send a message before a choice is made — is introduced between two agents, it can create an asymmetry in bargaining power, giving one side a first-mover advantage.
This site asks: what happens to that picture once AI enters the interaction? It explores two scenarios, presented as open questions:
- AI as the go-between — two people each use AI to help draft messages to each other, so AI reshapes the bargaining procedure itself.
- AI as a conversational partner — a human in direct, ongoing conversation with an AI, where the AI itself acts as one of the two agents exerting influence, explored turn by turn rather than assumed.
The chapter is theoretical, and theory doesn't always travel well outside academic audiences. This site is an attempt to make its ideas legible and exploratory for a public, non-specialist audience — a way of asking "does this framework still make sense once AI is part of the interaction?" out loud, rather than asserting an answer.
Chapter 3, Virtual Bargaining with Asymmetric Bargaining Power, from my PhD thesis.