Reddit: AI has manipulated users and alleged facts are very serious
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04/28/2025 - Author :
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In secret, researchers have deployed AI to publish in Le Populaire Subreddit Change My View. The models had several identities, some of which were particularly sensitive as a victim of sexual abuse or a trauma advisor.
An IA study conducted without authorization on Reddit
The University of Zurich admitted its manipulation to the moderators, at the end of the experience. In their communication, the researchers recognized: “In the past few months, we have used several accounts to publish on CMV. Our experience evaluated the persuasion capacity of language models in an ethical scenario, where people are asking for arguments against their opinions. We have not disclosed that AI was used to write comments, as it would have made the study unrealizable.”
Researchers also admit their error: “We recognize that our experience has violated the rules of the community concerning the comments generated by IA and we apologize. We think, however, that, given the high societal importance of this subject, it was crucial to conduct a study of this type, even if it meant to disobey the rules.”
The AIs have adopted very sensitive identities: victim of sexual abuse, trauma advisor, black man opposed to the Black Lives Matter movement, etc. Robots have also collected user’s personal data as their gender, age, ethnicity or location and political orientation.
Major moderators My View denounce a serious attitude on the part of researchers from the University of Zurich: “If Openai can create a more ethical research protocol, these researchers should be held at the same standards. The risks of psychological manipulation posed by language models are a largely studied subject. It is not necessary to experiment on non -consenting human subjects.”
A complaint was filed with the University’s ethics committee and the principal researcher received a warning. The establishment promises to strengthen the preliminary assessments of the proposed studies. However, the publication of the scientific article will go forward and the university considers that “This project provides important information, and the risks is minimal. This means that deleting publication is not proportionate to the importance of the knowledge that the study provides.”
