Original title: Empowered yet unethical? Understanding GenAI misuse intention in generative AI chatbot use
Shiu‐Wan Hung, Jyun-Hao Jian · September 2026
Generative AI chatbots help people get things done, but feeling powerful while using them might lead to bad behavior. Researchers wanted to know why people intend to misuse these tools. They surveyed users to test an idea called an empowerment backfire mechanism. The tools are capable and easy to access, which makes users feel independent and capable. In psychological terms, these feelings are called autonomyThe feeling of being in control of your own actions and choices. and competenceThe feeling that you are good at using a tool or doing a task.. However, the study found that feeling this sense of control actually links to higher intentions to misuse the AI. When people experienced situational anxiety, it changed how their sense of competence linked to misuse intention. Overall, feeling empowered may drive misuse intention more than standard moral rationalizations do.
You get a new set of cooking knives that are incredibly sharp and easy to use. You feel very skilled and in control. But because of that confidence, you start using them for tasks they aren't meant for, like opening packages or prying lids, even though you know it's dangerous. In this paper, the AI chatbot's powerful features give users feelings of autonomy and competence, which paradoxically increase their intention to misuse it in unethical ways.
Most AI chatbots are designed to be helpful and easy to use. But this study shows that those very features can backfire: when users feel more capable and in control, they become more willing to use the chatbot in unethical ways, like cheating or deception. Designers need to build in safeguards that prevent misuse without limiting genuine empowerment.
The study's cross-sectional design means it cannot prove that empowerment causes misuse—only that they are related. It also measures intention to misuse, not actual misuse, which may differ. Additionally, the neutralization theory account showed mixed results, so the role of rationalization remains unclear.
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Empowered yet unethical? Understanding GenAI misuse intention in generative AI chatbot use — Shiu‐Wan Hung, Jyun-Hao Jian — Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics — doi:10.1108/apjml-04-2026-0774
Abstract licence: CC BY
Explanation generated by Synthesis from the abstract — it is not the original paper.