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2024-11-11

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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 [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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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] 19 points 1 month ago (1 children)

A piece of paper dropped on the ground can 'shape human beliefs'. That's literally a tool used in warfare.

The news here is that conspiratorial thinking can be relieved at all.

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

"AI is just a tool; is a bit naïve. The power of this tool and the scope makes this tool a devastating potential. It's a good idea to be concerned and talk about it.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Agreed - but acting surprised that it can change opinions (for the worse) doesn't make sense to me, that's obvious, since anything can. That AI can potentially do so even more effectively than other things is indeed worth talking about as a society (and is again pretty obvious)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

I wasn't trying to downplay. If it can be wielded thoughtfully at scale, it could be life changing for literally millions.

The risk is that billionaires own these models, and far too often we see their interests aligned with fascism. If they choose to place a motive in this box, they now know it will have a quantifiable effect.