this post was submitted on 17 Sep 2024
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Scientists Use AI to Prove People Can Be Talked Out of Conspiracy Theories (www.extremetech.com)
submitted 1 month ago by cum_hoc to c/science
26 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

From the article:

This chatbot experiment reveals that, contrary to popular belief, many conspiracy thinkers aren't 'too far gone' to reconsider their convictions and change their minds.

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[–] [email protected] 79 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Another way of looking at it: "AI successfully used to manipulate people's opinions on certain topics." If it can persuade them to stop believing conspiracy theories, AI can also be used to make people believe conspiracy theories.

[–] davidgro 49 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Anything can be used to make people believe them. That's not new or a challenge.

I'm genuinely surprised that removing such beliefs is feasible at all though.

[–] SpaceNoodle 5 points 1 month ago (2 children)

If they're gullible enough to be suckered into it, they can similarly be suckered out of it - but clearly the effect would not be permanent.

[–] Zexks 2 points 1 month ago (2 children)

That doesn’t follow with the “if you didnt reason your way into a believe you can’t reason your way out” line. Considering religious ferver I’m more inclined to believe this line than yours.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago

No one said at all that AI used "reason" to talk people out of a conspiracy theory. In fact I would assume it's incredibly unlikely since AI in general is not reasonable.

[–] SpaceNoodle 2 points 1 month ago

Why? It works as a corollary - there's no logic involved in any of the stages described.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I've always believed the adage that you can't logic someone out of a position they didn't logic themselves into. It protects my peace.

[–] Angry_Autist 1 points 1 month ago

logic isn't the only way to persuade, in fact all evidence seems to show it works on very few people.

Everyone discounts sincere emotional arguments but frankly that's all I've ever seen work on conspiracyheads.

[–] Angry_Autist 2 points 1 month ago

  1. the person needs to have a connection to the conspiracy theorist that is stronger than the identity valence gained by adopting these conspiracies

  2. The person needs to speak emotionally and sincerely, using direct experience (cookie cutter rarely works here)

  3. The person needs to genuinely desire for the improvement of the other's life

That is the only way I have ever witnessed it personally work, and it still took weeks.