Chatbots share limited information, reinforce ideologies, and, as a result, can lead to more polarized thinking when it comes to controversial issues, according to new research.
The study challenges perceptions that chatbots are impartial and provides insight into how using conversational search systems could widen the public divide on hot-button issues and leave people vulnerable to manipulation.
"Because people are reading a summary paragraph generated by AI, they think they're getting unbiased, fact-based answers," said lead author Ziang Xiao, an assistant professor of computer science at Johns Hopkins who studies human-AI interactions."Even if a chatbot isn't designed to be biased, its answers reflect the biases or leanings of the person asking the questions. So really, people are getting the answers they want to hear.
The researchers asked 272 participants to write out their thoughts about topics including health care, student loans, or sanctuary cities, and then look up more information online about that topic using either a chatbot or a traditional search engine built for the study. After considering the search results, participants wrote a second essay and answered questions about the topic.
The echo chamber stems, in part, from the way participants interacted with chatbots, Xiao said. Rather than typing in keywords, as people do for traditional search engines, chatbot users tended to type in full questions, such as, What are the benefits of universal health care? or What are the costs of universal health care? A chatbot would answer with a summary that included only benefits or costs.
In fact, when the researchers created a chatbot with a hidden agenda, designed to agree with people, the echo chamber effect was even stronger.
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