A study conducted by Cornell University examined how the use of AI in conversations impacts the way people express themselves and view each other.
The researchers have found people have more efficient conversations, use more positive language and perceive each other more positively when using an Al-enabled chat tool.
However, the group also found that when participants think their partner is using more AI-suggested responses, they consider that partner as less cooperative.
"I was surprised to find people tend to evaluate you more negatively simply because they suspect you're using AI to help compose text, regardless of whether you actually are," said Jess Hohenstein, the lead researcher. "This illustrates the continuous overall doubt that people seem to have around AI."
For their first experiment, participants were asked to talk about a policy issue and assigned to one of three conditions: both participants can use smart replies; only one participant can use smart replies; or neither participant can use smart replies. Researchers found that using smart replies increased communication efficiency, positive emotional language and positive evaluations by communication partners. On average, smart replies accounted for 14.3% of sent messages.
But participants who their partners suspected of responding with smart replies were evaluated more negatively than those who were thought to have typed their own responses, consistent with common assumptions about the negative implications of AI.
"While Al might be able to help you write," Hohenstein said, "it's altering your language in ways you might not expect, especially by making you sound more positive. This suggests that by using text-generating Al, you're giving up some of your own personal voice."
Malte Jung, an associate professor, said, "What we observe in this study is the impact that Al has on social dynamics and some of the unintended consequences that could result from integrating AI in social contexts. This suggests that whoever controls the algorithm(算法) may have influence on people's interactions, language and insights into each other."
