persuasion

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Free

Durably Reducing Conspiracy Beliefs Through Dialogues with AI

Authors

Thomas H. Costello, Gordon Pennycook, David G. Rand

Venue

Science (peer-reviewed; expression of concern issued 2026)

Published

2024-09-13

ID

DOI 10.1126/science.adq1814

Science study in which 2,190 conspiracy believers held personalized, evidence-based conversations with GPT-4 Turbo; belief fell about 20% and the effect lasted two months. Science published an expression of concern about the paper on June 11, 2026.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.govAdded Oct 4, 20260 opens

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Free

Dialogues with Large Language Models Reduce Conspiracy Beliefs Even When the AI Is Perceived as Human

Authors

Esther Boissin, Thomas H. Costello, Daniel Spinoza-Martín, David G. Rand, Gordon Pennycook

Venue

PNAS Nexus (peer-reviewed)

Published

2025-10-14

ID

DOI 10.1093/pnasnexus/pgaf325

Preregistered experiment (N = 955) in PNAS Nexus testing whether LLM debunking works because the messenger is an AI. Conversations reduced confidence in conspiracy and other unwarranted beliefs whether the model was framed as an AI tool or a human expert.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.govAdded Oct 4, 20260 opens

How to Communicate So That Others Listen (Cheat Sheet)

A one-page cheat sheet covering the five rules of effective communication, the three types of conversation (informational, emotional, social) and twenty persuasive phrases you can use in real conversations.

Why I recommend it: Print it and keep it beside you for a week of meetings and interviews. The twenty phrases are the part people actually use.