Part 3/8:
Recent studies have illuminated the extraordinary degree to which AI can influence opinions and behavior. Researchers from the University of Tzurich found that bots powered by large language models outperformed humans in persuasive tasks by a rate of six to one in a simulated Reddit forum. Further experiments revealed that AI, when armed with demographic data, surpassed human debaters' abilities to persuade on topics like school uniforms or taxation policies.
This phenomenon, termed microtargeting, signals a shift towards a new era of marketing and political lobbying where decisions are being engineered by algorithms designed to exploit individual vulnerabilities and preferences.