University of Zurich scientists made Reddit users AI test subjects without telling them

A group of researchers at the University of Zürich reportedly experimented on the Reddit platform to study the online behaviour of users. They deployed generative Artificial Intelligence(gen AI) chatbots to try to manipulate people's mindsets.

Reddit is one of the most popular social media platforms globally. It offers a safe space for people to be anonymous but still be able to engage in intellectual debate online.

However, this aspect of anonymous identity has been misused to influence people's opinions toward social justice movements, religion, and race.

It has come to light that a group of researchers at the University of Zürich experimented on the Reddit platform to study the online behaviour of users. They deployed generative Artificial Intelligence(gen AI) chatbots to try to manipulate people's mindsets.

They set up multiple fake accounts on Reddit's 'r/changemyview' platform and let the gen AI chatbot post messages and get involved with the debate and discussions with real people.

The chatbots impersonated various personas including LGBTQIA+ members, a gay roman catholic, a rape survivor, a trauma counsellor, a black man critical of the Black Lives Matter movement, and more.

Once the word got out that the accounts were run by AI bots, people raised concerns over privacy online and Reddit has not taken this lightly and is mulling the option to file a legal suit against the University of Zürich.

"What this University of Zurich team did is deeply wrong on both a moral and legal level. It violates academic research and human rights norms, and is prohibited by Reddit’s user agreement and rules, in addition to the subreddit rules. We have banned all accounts associated with the University of Zurich research effort. Additionally, while we were able to detect many of these fake accounts, we will continue to strengthen our inauthentic content detection capabilities, and we have been in touch with the moderation team to ensure we’ve removed any AI-generated content associated with this research," said Chief Legal Officer of Reddit, who goes by the moniker u/traceroo.

Researchers at the University of Zürich have apologised for the unethical experiment and have announced the decision not to publish any report of the study they conducted on Reddit.

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