Engineering of Consent: From Information Manipulation to Algorithmic Control of Artificial Intelligence

The concept of ‘consent engineering’ developed by social psychologist and technologist Edward Bernays in the first half of the 20th century, has become a cornerstone of modern public relations, political communication, and social governance. This article deconstructs the paradox of the Bernays’s model: how the desire for rational governance of people gave rise to manipulative technologies of mass influence on society as a whole. This article analyzes how Bernays’s classic ideas anticipated the era of modern post-truth and digital algorithms, transforming the understanding of public policy democracy. The authors examine the emergence of a new version of consent engineering in the era of algorithmic power and other digital circuits This article also analyzes the transformation of consent-building methods — from classic mass communication tools to algorithmic platforms using big data and artificial intelligence.

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