Conspiracy theory beliefs are notoriously persistent. Influential hypotheses propose that they fulfill important psychological needs, thus resisting counterevidence. Yet previous failures in correcting conspiracy beliefs may be due to counterevidence being insufficiently compelling and tailored. To evaluate this possibility, we leveraged developments in generative artificial intelligence and engaged 2190 conspiracy believers in personalized evidence-based dialogues with GPT-4 Turbo. The intervention reduced conspiracy belief by ~20%. The effect remained 2 months later, generalized across a wide range of conspiracy theories, and occurred even among participants with deeply entrenched beliefs. Although the dialogues focused on a single conspiracy, they nonetheless diminished belief in unrelated conspiracies and shifted conspiracy-related behavioral intentions. These findings suggest that many conspiracy theory believers can revise their views if presented with sufficiently compelling evidence.

中文翻译：

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通过与 AI 对话持久减少阴谋论


众所周知，阴谋论的信念是持久的。有影响力的假设提出它们满足了重要的心理需求，从而抵制反证。然而，以前在纠正阴谋论信念方面的失败可能是由于反证不够有说服力和量身定制。为了评估这种可能性，我们利用生成式人工智能的发展，并与 2190 名阴谋论信徒一起与 GPT-4 Turbo 进行了个性化的循证对话。干预将阴谋论信念减少了 ~20%。这种影响在 2 个月后仍然存在，普遍存在于广泛的阴谋论中，甚至发生在信仰根深蒂固的参与者中。尽管对话集中在一个阴谋上，但它们仍然减少了对无关阴谋的信念，并改变了与阴谋相关的行为意图。这些发现表明，如果面对足够令人信服的证据，许多阴谋论信徒可以修改他们的观点。