AI researchers ran a secret experiment on Reddit users (2025)

Technology Artificial Intelligence AI researchers ran a secret experiment on Reddit users to see if they could change their minds — and the results are creepy University of Zurich researchers secretly unleashed an army of manipulative chatbots on the r/changemyview subreddit — and they were more persuasive than humans at getting people to change their minds. By Ben Turner published 1 May 2025 in News When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. The chatbots took on a variety of false guises and many of them were convincing.

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