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AI language technologies increasingly assist and expand human communication. While AI-mediated communication reduces human effort, its societal consequences are poorly understood. In this study, we investigate whether using an AI writing assistant in personal self-presentation changes how people talk about themselves. In an online experiment, we asked participants (N=200) to introduce themselves to others. An AI language assistant supported their writing by suggesting sentence completions. The language model generating suggestions was fine-tuned to preferably suggest either interest, work, or hospitality topics. We evaluate how the topic preference of a language model affected users’ topic choice by analyzing the topics participants discussed in their self-presentations. Our results suggest that AI language technologies may change the topics their users talk about. We discuss the need for a careful debate and evaluation of the topic priors built into AI language technologies.
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Artificial intelligence in communication impacts language and social relationships
Abstract Artificial intelligence (AI) is already widely used in daily communication, but despite concerns about AI’s negative effects on society the social consequences of using it to communicate remain largely unexplored. We investigate the social consequences of one of the most pervasive AI applications, algorithmic response suggestions (“smart replies”), which are used to send billions of messages each day. Two randomized experiments provide evidence that these types of algorithmic recommender systems change how people interact with and perceive one another in both pro-social and anti-social ways. We find that using algorithmic responses changes language and social relationships. More specifically, it increases communication speed, use of positive emotional language, and conversation partners evaluate each other as closer and more cooperative. However, consistent with common assumptions about the adverse effects of AI, people are evaluated more negatively if they are suspected to be using algorithmic responses. Thus, even though AI can increase the speed of communication and improve interpersonal perceptions, the prevailing anti-social connotations of AI undermine these potential benefits if used overtly.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1901151
- PAR ID:
- 10463193
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Scientific Reports
- Volume:
- 13
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 2045-2322
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-30938-9
