wild stuff
the idea that researchers secretly ran an AI persuasion experiment on reddit without disclosure is a huge red flag. reddit’s always been a place for real human exchange, and this kind of covert manipulation erodes that trust fast. it’s one thing to test tech in a sandbox, but deploying it live on unsuspecting users crosses a major ethical line. feels like we seriously need updated guardrails around AI research in public spaces
not saying it’s ideal, but isn’t this just a more advanced version of what social media algorithms do every day? we’re constantly nudged and influenced by recommendation systems, ads, bots, and SEO spam. maybe the bigger issue is how little awareness users have of these forces — not just this one experiment.
This is exactly the kind of thing that makes people distrust AI research and academic institutions. Running a persuasion experiment without consent on real users—especially in public forums like reddit—crosses a major ethical line
Even if the goal was to study persuasion, there’s no excuse for manipulating people under the radar
WTF this one is chilling—not just because it happened, but because it could happen again, anywhere, without us knowing. the fact that researchers used AI bots to subtly influence reddit conversations, without user consent or platform oversight, shows how easily the line between experimentation and manipulation gets crossed in digital spaces.
what’s especially disturbing is how invisible it was. no fake news, no deepfakes—just slight nudges in tone and phrasing from AI-driven accounts. persuasion, not deception. and that’s exactly what makes it dangerous. it exploits trust in the everyday messiness of online dialogue.
this raises urgent questions about informed consent, platform responsibility, and the ethics of “in the wild” AI research. if bots can now simulate authentic discourse so well that even seasoned users can’t tell the difference, transparency can’t be optional anymore—it has to be foundational.
we’re not just participants online anymore—we’re test subjects, often without knowing it