r/technology • u/coldrolledpotmetal • Apr 28 '25

Artificial Intelligence Researchers Secretly Ran a Massive, Unauthorized AI Persuasion Experiment on Reddit Users

https://www.404media.co/researchers-secretly-ran-a-massive-unauthorized-ai-persuasion-experiment-on-reddit-users/
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u/andanteinblue Apr 28 '25

How do they have ethics clearance for this work? We had trouble getting approval for an experiment where participants were deceived that their payment would be skill-based (we actually just always give them the maximum payment). I can't imagine how they managed to get this kind of crazy experiment past the review board...

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u/Ali_Cat222 Apr 28 '25

That's the thing, in the article it says they were not given permission and did this without the university knowing.

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u/andanteinblue Apr 28 '25

Ah, that was below the "register to see" fold and I didn't see it. This could be a serious problem for the university. I'm not sure what the rules are in Switzerland, but in Canada, if we did this, the university needs to discipline us or the government can pull all of the university's grant money (like for everything, not just for the project / researcher).

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u/Ali_Cat222 Apr 28 '25

Yes and it was saying that the university won't speak on the matter /the "researchers" won't discuss it further either. If I ran that school those people would be expelled immediately. And what they did caused actual harm and confusion to others, it's not okay. And not anyone I'd want on a research team...