Unauthorized AI Bot Experiment Infiltrated Reddit To Test Persuasion Capabilities

Researchers claiming affiliation with the University of Zurich secretly deployed AI-powered bots in a popular Reddit forum to test whether AI could change users' minds on contentious topics. The unauthorized experiment, which targeted the r/changemyview subreddit, involved bots making over 1,700 comments across several months while adopting fabricated identities including a sexual assault survivor, a Black man opposing Black Lives Matter, and a domestic violence shelter worker.

The researchers 'personalized' comments by analyzing users' posting histories to infer demographic information. The researchers, who remain anonymous despite inquiries, claimed their bots were 'consistently well-received,' garnering over 20,000 upvotes and 137 'deltas' -- awards indicating successful opinion changes. Hundreds of bot comments were deleted following the disclosure.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.