GPT-4 Outsmarts Humans in Debates With Just a Few Personal Details

When researchers gave GPT-4 basic facts, such as someone’s age, gender, job, and political leaning, it became better at winning debates compared to human opponents.

The research, published in Nature Human Behavior on May 19, looked at 900 people discussing political and social topics. Some were paired with other humans, while others debated with GPT-4.

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When the AI did not have any personal information, it performed about the same as a person. However, when it was given just a little background, it became more effective at changing minds.

In debates where one side clearly did better, the personalized version of GPT-4 came out ahead in about 64% of those cases. According to the researchers, this means the AI was much more likely to shift someone’s opinion after the debate.

The AI tended to use clear and structured reasoning, unlike people, who often rely on personal stories or emotional appeals. It focused on logical points that matched the other person’s background.

Participants were generally good at spotting when they were talking to a bot—about 75% guessed correctly. However, when debating a real person, they could not tell with any real accuracy. Additionally, they were more likely to be persuaded when they thought they were talking to AI, even if they were not.

The study also showed that people with moderate or uncertain opinions were easier to influence than those with strong views.

On April 28, researchers from the University of Zurich conducted an unauthorized study by posting 1,783 AI-generated comments on the r/changemyview subreddit. How did Reddit’s chief legal officer respond? Read the full story.