AI can be more persuasive than humans in debates, study finds

Artificial intelligence can do just as well as humans, if not better, when it comes to persuading others in a debate, and not just because it cannot shout, a study has found.

- Nicola Davis

Experts say the results are concerning, not least as they have potential implications for election integrity.

"If persuasive AI can be deployed at scale, you can imagine armies of bots microtargeting undecided voters, subtly nudging them with tailored political narratives that feel authentic," said Francesco Salvi, the first author of the research from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne. He added that such influence was hard to trace, even harder to regulate and nearly impossible to debunk in real time.

"I would be surprised if malicious actors hadn't already started to use these tools to their advantage to spread misinformation and unfair propaganda," Salvi said.