Can a Chatbot Convince Conspiracy Theorists of the Truth?

If you're new to our show and liked this episode, may we suggest a couple of our other recent stories you might enjoy? Check out "I Was 11 When Instagram Took Over My Life", "The Talented Ms. Goldiee" and "Why Did ICE Lock Up This Pro-Trump Reporter?"

Like millions of others, Gordon Pennycook’s older brother has leapt down the rabbit hole of conspiracy theories, and Gordon says he’s tried to change his brother’s mind, without success. Which tracks, if you’ve ever debated a conspiracy theorist — it can feel impossible to pull them back to reality.

If anyone was qualified to convince his brother, though, it’s Gordon, who’s a psychology professor at Cornell University where he studies why people believe things that aren’t true. So Gordon wanted to put this question to the test: Is it actually the case that conspiracy theorists rarely change their minds? He and a team of researchers ran an experiment using an AI chatbot to rebut people’s theories. And the results were very surprising. In fact, they ended up changing Gordon’s mind about conspiracy theories, and the people who believe them.

Question Everything is a production of KCRW and Placement Theory.

Guests:

Gordon Pennycook, Cornell University, Associate Professor, Dorothy and Ariz Mehta Faculty Leadership Fellow

Please support the organizations that support this show:

Tämä jakso on lisätty Podme-palveluun avoimen RSS-syötteen kautta eikä se ole Podmen omaa tuotantoa. Siksi jakso saattaa sisältää mainontaa.

Jaksot(87)

The High Stakes Game of Bargaining with the News

Just a few weeks ago, David Ellison and Paramount were staring down the barrel of a $7 million dollar per day fine for every day their merger with Warner Bros was not finalized, with a 12 state class-...

8 Loka 26min

Flock Won’t Answer This One Town’s Simple Question

Flock Safety’s license plate cameras are in about 6,000 towns across the U.S. But lately, towns have been pulling out of their contracts after all sorts of creepy stories about cops using the cameras ...

1 Loka 41min

Wait, Did Zuckerberg Get Off Easy?

A few weeks ago, Meta was in trouble. 47 states plus several U.S. territories were suing the company in federal court for knowingly harming kids with its apps, Instagram and Facebook. Several of the s...

24 Syys 30min

Introducing: Reaching Out

Today we’re excited to share a special episode of Reaching Out, a new podcast from Futuro and KCRW. Hailed by Ira Glass as the “best new show I’ve heard in years,” Reaching Out is a story about father...

23 Syys 39min

The Curious Case of the Fake Florida Newsroom

When Florida reporter Kate Payne stumbled across a local news site called The South Florida Standard, something about it felt off. She’d never heard of the outlet before and didn’t know any of the jou...

17 Syys 45min

A Pitch for Why Journalists Need to Fight

What would it take to actually fix America’s broken journalism industry? Using rural North Carolina as a petri dish, the podcast Scene on Radio spent their latest season, called “The News”, diagnosing...

10 Syys 47min

Badass Local Journalists on How to Fight Corruption

Local reporters from around the country tell stories of using the experiences of their neighbors to confront people in power. Guests: Anna Wolfe with Mississippi Today Lisa Halverstadt with Voice of...

3 Syys 53min

The Journalist and the Firefighter

How one of the most accomplished reporters of our time, Barton Gellman, lost his confidence in journalism. Question Everything is a production of KCRW and Placement Theory. Follow us on Instagram: @qu...

27 Elo 40min