Do you believe in a vast conspiracy? So much so that when you bring it up, other people give you weird looks and question your mental health? Now, you can turn to a chatbot called DebunkBot to see why everyone is giving you those weird looks.
DebunkBot is an AI-powered bot that you can have a pleasant conversation with while it gently and respectfully debunks whatever conspiratorial theories you might have using nothing but evidence backed up by cold-hard facts and good old-fashioned persuasive arguments.
A recent study published in Science demonstrates how DebunkBot isn’t just some clever little internet novelty. It actually does a good job of talking people out of the conspiracy theories they believe in, perhaps even permanently. Based on the ChatGPT, DebunkBot was tested on 2,100 participants who held a wide variety of conspiracy beliefs. COVID-19, moon landing, 9/11, Kennedy assassination. The works. All the stuff you can hear people ranting and raving about online, from X to the comment section of a recipe blog.
Participants ask DebunkBot three rounds of chit-chat centered around a conspiracy theory of their choice. DebunkBot then creates a counterargument specifically for that user and their particular niche belief.
The research shows that using DebunkBot reduced a participant’s confidence in their conspiracy theory by an average of 20%. A quarter of participants no longer believed the conspiracy at all. Even more impressive is that this change in belief persisted more than two months later, suggesting that DebunkBot could potentially change minds in the long term. It’s so convincing that some people who held conspiracies went on to thank DebunkBot for making them see the truth.
For years, we all just assumed that people who believe conspiracies will never be talked out of them. DebunkBot is proving that it is possible. Maybe we were just going about it the wrong way?
The power of DebunkBot is in its personalized approach. Trying to convince the masses that conspiracy theory has no basis in reality may convince some, but it won’t convince those who cite different pieces of evidence. DebunkBot tries to deliver a custom convincing argument, no matter how niche your conspiracy is or what personalized little twist you have on a common conspiracy theory.
As for how to get conspiracy theorists to engage with DebunkBot, its creators are thinking of sharing the bot in forums where conspiracies thrive or buying ads on search results for conspiracies. Of course, conspiracy theorists are going to assume that DebunkBot is a conspiracy unto itself—so that might be a bit of an issue.
The post Meet DebunkBot, The AI Chatbot that Will Debunk Any Conspiracy You Believe appeared first on VICE.
The post Meet DebunkBot, The AI Chatbot that Will Debunk Any Conspiracy You Believe appeared first on VICE.
