Cyber Law Expert Puneet Bhasin’s New Book Explores Who Really Controls Human Choices in the Age of AI
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], November 3: Are the choices people make truly their own, or are algorithms and artificial intelligence increasingly shaping what they think, watch and believe?
Cyber law expert and advocate Puneet Bhasin explores this question in her new book, Who Controls Your Mind? Algorithms, Artificial Intelligence and the New Battle for Human Autonomy, which is published by Cursive, an imprint of OakBridge Publishing.
The book examines how digital platforms use personal data, algorithms and artificial intelligence to influence attention and behaviour, and questions whether existing legal frameworks are sufficient to protect individual autonomy in the digital age.
The idea for the book emerged from an interaction Bhasin had with a group of 17- and 18-year-old students. When she asked how many intended to marry or have children, only two students raised their hands in response to each question. Some of the students said they had regularly watched social media content mocking marriage and family life.
The interaction led Bhasin to examine whether digital content and recommendation systems could influence personal choices in ways users may not consciously recognise.
According to Bhasin, every search, click, pause and interaction on a digital platform generates data that can be used to create behavioural profiles and predict what a user is likely to engage with next. She describes this process as “Data Farming”, arguing that platforms do not merely collect behavioural information but can also encourage the behaviour that produces it.
The book uses the fictional story of a teenager, Veer, and his family to explain complex issues surrounding technology and law. The narrative covers situations including excessive gaming, data breaches, AI-generated voice scams, online influencers, AI companions and other forms of digital dependence.
Spread across 18 chapters and five sections, the book examines the relationship between algorithms, artificial intelligence, human behaviour and law.
It covers issues such as short-form video and attention, AI and memory, digital detox, data breaches, AI voice scams, harassment in virtual environments, the portrayal of crime on streaming platforms, online risks to children, algorithmic influence on faith, educational technology, gaming design, AI chatbots and digital influence in modern warfare.
The legal analysis refers to Indian laws and judicial decisions, including the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, the Information Technology Act, 2000, its 2026 amendment rules, the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Supreme Court’s judgments in K.S. Puttaswamy and Selvi. It also looks at developments in Australia, Europe, the UK and the US.
Among the concepts proposed in the book is “Cognitive Sovereignty”, which Bhasin describes as an individual’s right to remain in control of their attention, thoughts and decisions.
The book also introduces “Cognitive Habeas Corpus”, raising the question of whether the constitutional protections of privacy and dignity under Article 21 could extend to protection against forms of technological influence over the human mind.
Another proposed concept is “Cognitive Injury by Design”, which examines whether companies that deliberately design products to encourage behavioural dependence should be held accountable for the resulting harm.
Bhasin also examines the “safe harbour” protection available to intermediaries under Section 79 of the Information Technology Act and questions whether platforms that actively select and amplify content can continue to be treated as neutral intermediaries.
The book, however, does not present technology as inherently harmful. Instead, it calls for greater awareness and individual agency while recognising the benefits of technological innovation.
Its concluding chapters suggest practical measures such as questioning the source of one’s thoughts, treating attention as a limited resource, actively searching for information rather than passively consuming algorithmic feeds and creating barriers against compulsive digital consumption.
“The practice of sovereign thought begins with a pause,” Bhasin writes.
The book carries forewords from former Bombay High Court judge Justice Vidyasagar M Kanade, Former Lokayukta of Maharashtra and Acting Chief Justice of Bombay High Court and former Intelligence Bureau Director Rajiv Jain, Tamil Nadu Director General of Police Dr Sandeep Mittal and Sumnesh Joshi, Deputy Director General, Ministry of communications. Colonel Ashish Upreti, VSM, Director Social Media, Additional Directorate General of Strategic Communication, Indian Army, has written the afterword.
Justice Kanade notes that scholars and courts will ultimately determine whether concepts such as cognitive sovereignty develop into independent legal rights or serve as guiding principles for future laws. Dr Mittal, while cautioning that not every recommendation system is manipulative, observes that questions around technology, influence and autonomy are no longer merely academic.
Bhasin is an Internationally renowned advocate and cyber law expert working at the intersection of law, cybersecurity and technology. She advises institutions and companies and represents victims of cyber offences and has advised the United Nations Digital Public Goods Alliance for the drafting of the DPG Privacy Framework. Her earlier work includes Practical Guide to Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023: Law and Compliance, Digital India, Regulated India and Laws Governing Social Media & OTT in India.
The book concludes with the question that runs through its chapters: who controls the human mind when technology can increasingly predict and influence human behaviour?
“The answer, in the end, is up to you,” Bhasin writes.
