It is very difficult to change an individual’s mind. This is even more true nowadays as views have become polarized and seem to be ingrained in everyone’s psyche. Is it even possible to convince anyone else of anything? It seems that yes… with AI.
The EPFL conducted an experiment with dozens of people invited to debate. Some would be put in written contact with another human candidate or with a bot using ChatGPT 4.0. Furthermore, the algorithm was fed with the personal information of each interlocutor. They would therefore have to give their point of view verbatim on one of the 60 questions in two paragraphs, receive the other opinion, and finally judge whether the exchange had allowed them to change their mind.
This was 8 times more common among those who spoke with the algorithm than with another human. This is explained by the fact that, through thousands of data accumulated in psychology and marketing, and by adapting these words to knowledge about their interlocutor, they can find more convincing formulations. They were better at not distorting the other person’s point of view and at providing strong counterarguments. Moreover, interestingly, participants who often identified with the bot were more receptive to being persuaded by AI than by another human. This just shows that the ego disappears in the face of a machine with millions of data.
Duration: 10 minutes54
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