Is AI the answer to polarised views?
Extreme political views and negative feelings towards others who disagree politically have become a threat to current democracies.
Recent research suggests that AI can have a positive impact. Whereas social media tends to be more divisive, creating polarisation and position taking, AI can create more centrist positions.
The research tested whether brief conversations with an AI chatbot could reduce extreme views and make people more open to understanding the other political side.
In two online experiments, 1,035 U.S. adults chatted live with a chatbot about one of four political topics. The topics were strongly polarized, such as gun regulation or U.S. aid to Ukraine.
The bot was programmed to communicate in different ways, and participants chatted with only one version of the bot about a subject they held the most extreme views of.
→ One counterargued and was firm and direct in its argumentation.
→ One counterargued as well, but showed more acceptance of different views and asked questions.
→ One talked about an unrelated, nonpolitical topic.
After the chat, people who received counterarguments from the bot held less extreme views than those who had a chat on a nonpolitical topic.
When the bot also accepted others’ positions and asked questions, participants felt warmer toward other people who disagreed with them.
They also showed more recognition of possible limits in their knowledge, and they were more willing to engage in future talks across the partisan divide.
If the findings are true, at scale, then this could herald a mitigation to polarising media ecosystems, including social media.
On the other hand they could also remove and flatten legitimate dissent as the centrist view becomes the dominant one.
It is too early to tell, but the feeling of being heard, and that others are curious has been a powerful persuader before AI existed (see links)
SOURCE
Original research: https://academic.oup.com/jcmc/article/31/2/zmag003/8551324?login=false
FT Article (paywall): https://www.ft.com/content/3880176e-d3ac-4311-9052-fdfeaed56a0e?syn-25a6b1a6=1
BESCI AI OPINION
This is a tough one. The world feels more polarised than ever, so removing polarisation and getting to good conversations is good, right?
Or is it? What happens when it goes to far, and who is shaping the conversations? One to think about.
Here are of my favourite (non AI) videos which show the power of connection and being heard as a method of shifting perceptions. AI is a powerful tool in scaling and achieving a similar 'feel'.
Worlds Apart: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etIqln7vT4w
Giving up their Robes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cbkKXK37DA
