Post #3982819

2026-07-21 09:45 UTC

Using #AI makes people less likely to be correct Accuracy collapsed when AI was available - Baseline: 27% gave correct answer - With AI advice, 9% gave #correct answer Fact: Some would-be correct people got AI advice & became #wrong AI advice made people #confident there're correct - Baseline: 30% - With AI help, confidence rose to 76% People became worse, accuracy was only 1/3, but they were twice as confident https://www.theregister.com/ai-and-ml/2026/07/19/using-ai-makes-people-less-likely-to-admit-they-dont-know-something/5274567 #digital #DumbedDown #DDD = Digitally Dumbed Down

Replies (6)

@gary_alderson@infosec.exchange 2026-07-21 12:20

@paka@mastodon.scot ai is a miracle any way you slice it

Open ##3985523
@RunRichRun@mastodon.social 2026-07-21 09:48

@paka@mastodon.scot TLDNR: "The title of their paper reveals their findings: 'AI advice suppresses people’s willingness to say "I don’t know", even when the advice is wrong and accuracy is incentivized.'" #AI

Open ##4036379
@eribosot@mastodon.social 2026-07-21 09:52

@paka@mastodon.scot Is it surprising that the AI that people use is mostly developed in the United States, whose schoolkids consistently score low on basic skills like math and reading, but high on self-confidence?

Open ##4036388
@moranaga@literatur.social 2026-07-21 10:17

@paka@mastodon.scot My interpretation: The belief in the accuracy of AI is so strong that independent research is deemed unnecessary, and any emerging doubts about the correctness of an AI’s response are ignored or suppressed. At the same time, the AI’s responses – which are always phrased in an affirmative manner – dispel personal uncertainties and thus reinforce the impression of possessing truth and knowledge – and therefore of being in the right.

Open ##4036393
@webology@mastodon.social 2026-07-21 11:14

@paka@mastodon.scot @fallenhitokiri@social.screamingatmyscreen.com Seems like a bad study if only 44% can get it correct with or without LLMs. Especially if you tell them to use a bad model you know will fail on subjects they know nothing about. Paying them incentivized them to care slightly more but clearly not enough to abandon the tool you asked them to use. 😬

Open ##4036404
@bleepbloop@ravenation.club 2026-07-21 11:19

@paka@mastodon.scot AI doesn't allow you any time to chew on the information you get from it, because it is always ready to go with more information for you. There should be time delayed version of it, so that you can sit with the stuff it just said before asking for some more. When two humans discuss something there is thinking time, moments when neither says anything. AI just keeps offering to take you further into what may or may not be facts. None of it stays permanently in your head.

Open ##4216321