UK Study Finds AI Chatbots Highly Persuasive but Often Inaccurate
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AI chatbots can influence people\u2019s political opinions but often do so while providing significant amounts of inaccurate information, according to a major study released by the UK government\u2019s AI Safety Institute (AISI) and reported by The Guardian. Researchers described the project as the largest systematic assessment to date of how persuasive AI systems can be, involving nearly 80,000 participants across the UK. <\/p>\n
The study examined 19 different AI models, including the advanced systems behind ChatGPT and Elon Musk\u2019s Grok. Participants engaged in short, structured conversations on political topics such as public sector pay, strikes, and the cost-of-living crisis. Each model was instructed to persuade users toward a specific viewpoint, and participants were surveyed before and after each interaction to measure shifts in opinion. <\/p>\n
Findings published in Science show that AI responses dense with facts and evidence were the most influential. However, models generating the most information were also among the least accurate, raising concerns that highly persuasive chatbots may spread misleading or false claims. Researchers warned that optimizing AI for persuasiveness could come \u201cat the cost of truthfulness,\u201d with potential risks for public discourse. <\/p>\n
The study also found that post-training methods\u2014modifying a model after its initial development\u2014significantly increased its persuasive power. Open-source systems such as Meta\u2019s Llama 3 and Alibaba\u2019s Qwen became more convincing when paired with reward models that prioritized highly persuasive outputs. <\/p>\n
Researchers noted that AI models could surpass human persuaders due to their ability to produce large volumes of information instantly. However, they cautioned that real-world factors\u2014limited user attention and natural psychological boundaries\u2014may reduce the likelihood of widespread AI-driven manipulation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
UK Study Finds AI Chatbots Highly Persuasive but Often Inaccurate ……… AI chatbots can influence people\u2019s political opinions but often do so while providing significant amounts of inaccurate information, according to a major study released by the UK government\u2019s AI Safety Institute (AISI) and reported by The Guardian. Researchers described the project as the largest …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":137661,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_108372464460192_245495985553329":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[12589],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-137662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ai-news"],"yoast_head":"\n