Breaking the Single Voice: Perceived AI Plurality as an Autonomy-Supportive Architecture for Ethical Marketplace Decisions

Artificial intelligence (AI) increasingly structures how consumers encounter, evaluate, and select marketplace options, raising fundamental questions about autonomy, empowerment, and welfare-enhancing choice environments. While prior work has focused on what algorithms recommend, less is known about how recommendation system architecture shapes the experience of choice. Across three experiments, this research examines the societal and psychological implications of perceived algorithmic plurality, defined as cons…