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AI chatbots can persuade voters to change their minds

Conversations with AI can sway people’s political views. Concerningly, a chatbot’s facts are not always accurate, especially when it supports right-wing positions.
By
  1. Chiara Vargiu

    1. Chiara Vargiu is in the Amsterdam School of Communication Research (ASCoR), University of Amsterdam, 1018 WV Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

  2. Alessandro Nai

    1. Alessandro Nai is in the Amsterdam School of Communication Research (ASCoR), University of Amsterdam, 1018 WV Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

The world is getting used to ‘talking’ to machines. Technology that just months ago seemed improbable or marginal has erupted quickly into the everyday lives of millions, perhaps billions, of people. Generative conversational artificial-intelligence systems, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, are being used to optimize tasks, plan holidays and seek advice on matters ranging from the trivial to the existential — a quiet exchange of words that is shaping how decisions are made1. Against this backdrop, the urgent question is: can the same conversational skills that make AI into helpful assistants also turn them into powerful political actors? In a pair of studies2,3 in Nature and Science, researchers show that dialogues with large language models (LLMs) can shift people’s attitudes towards political candidates and policy issues. The researchers also identify which features of conversational AI systems make them persuasive, and what risks they might pose for democracy.

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Nature 648, 287-288 (2025)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-03733-x

References

  1. Chatterji, A. et al. NBER Working Paper 34255 (National Bureau of Economic Research, 2025).

  2. Lin, H. et al. Nature 648, 394–401 (2025).

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  3. Hackenburg, K. et al. Science https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aea3884 (2025).

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  4. Kalla, J. L. & Broockman, D. E. Am. Polit. Sci. Rev. 112, 148–166 (2017).

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  5. Coppock, A., Hill, S. J. & Vavreck, L. Science Adv. 6, eabc4046 (2020).

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  6. Vargiu, C., Nai, A. & Garzia, D. J. Polit. https://doi.org/10.1086/735437 (2025).

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Competing Interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

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