Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 13, 2026

Continuous Theta Burst Stimulation of the Posterior Medial Frontal Cortex to Experimentally Reduce Ideological Threat Responses
Published on: September 28, 2018
Biased AI writing assistants shift users' attitudes on societal issues
Sterling Williams-Ceci1,2, Maurice Jakesch1,3, Advait Bhat4
1Department of Information Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA.
Abstract:
Artificial intelligence (AI) writing assistants powered by large language models (LLMs) are increasingly used to make autocomplete suggestions to people as they write text. Can these AI writing assistants affect people's attitudes in this process? In two large-scale preregistered experiments (N = 2582), we exposed participants writing about important societal issues to an AI writing assistant that provided biased autocomplete suggestions. When using the AI assistant, the attitudes participants expressed in a posttask survey converged toward the AI's position. However, a majority of participants were unaware of the AI suggestions' bias and their influence. Further, the influence of the AI writing assistant was stronger than the influence of similar suggestions presented as static text, showing that the influence is not fully explained by these suggestions, increasing accessibility of the biased information. Last, warning participants about assistants' bias before or after exposure does not mitigate the attitude-shift effect.
Related Concept Videos
Attitudes
Impression Management Techniques IV: Altercasting
Non-equilibrium in the Cell
Motivational Bias
Automatic Processing and Automatic Social Behavior
Social Scripts