We Never Know
No Slack
Being its about AI and conspiracy theories, I figured this would be best in the debate forum.
I imagine this could be good as well as bad.
AI chatbot shows promise in talking people out of conspiracy theories
"You might know someone who thinks the Moon landing was faked or COVID-19 vaccines are full of microchips. Believers cling tenaciously to such conspiracy theories, which have little basis in reality, even when presented with contrary evidence. But according to research published today in Science, some people do change their minds when fact-based arguments are delivered by an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot instead of another human being. Personalized conversations with this “debunkbot” can turn even hardcore conspiracy theorists into budding skeptics, the researchers report.
It’s really promising to see how AI can play a role in combating misinformation and conspiracy theories,” says Jan-Willem van Prooijen, a behavioral scientist at the Free University of Amsterdam who wasn’t involved in the new study. Generative AI is notorious for spreading falsehoods, most notably through the use of deepfakes, so Van Prooijen finds it “refreshing” to see it used as a force for good.
Be it the belief that the CIA assassinated former President John F. Kennedy or that Area 51 houses alien corpses, nearly half the U.S. population believes in one conspiracy theory or another, according to some estimates. Many psychologists think these beliefs help fulfill underlying psychological needs, such as the desire for security. But hypotheses about such “subterranean motivations” are hard to test, says Thomas Costello, a psychologist at American University and lead author of the new study. The new findings provide “one of the first really strong pieces of evidence that they’re not the whole story,” he says, “or maybe, in fact, that they’re totally wrong..."
I imagine this could be good as well as bad.
AI chatbot shows promise in talking people out of conspiracy theories
"You might know someone who thinks the Moon landing was faked or COVID-19 vaccines are full of microchips. Believers cling tenaciously to such conspiracy theories, which have little basis in reality, even when presented with contrary evidence. But according to research published today in Science, some people do change their minds when fact-based arguments are delivered by an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot instead of another human being. Personalized conversations with this “debunkbot” can turn even hardcore conspiracy theorists into budding skeptics, the researchers report.
It’s really promising to see how AI can play a role in combating misinformation and conspiracy theories,” says Jan-Willem van Prooijen, a behavioral scientist at the Free University of Amsterdam who wasn’t involved in the new study. Generative AI is notorious for spreading falsehoods, most notably through the use of deepfakes, so Van Prooijen finds it “refreshing” to see it used as a force for good.
Be it the belief that the CIA assassinated former President John F. Kennedy or that Area 51 houses alien corpses, nearly half the U.S. population believes in one conspiracy theory or another, according to some estimates. Many psychologists think these beliefs help fulfill underlying psychological needs, such as the desire for security. But hypotheses about such “subterranean motivations” are hard to test, says Thomas Costello, a psychologist at American University and lead author of the new study. The new findings provide “one of the first really strong pieces of evidence that they’re not the whole story,” he says, “or maybe, in fact, that they’re totally wrong..."
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