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3w ago

University of Zurich Halts AI StudyReddit Experiment Sparks Legal Action

Researchers secretly used AI bots to manipulate Reddit users' opinions without consent, prompting a university ethics review and Reddit's legal response.

A woman looking at a smartphone with a Reddit logo displayed in the background
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Reddit Inc. signage during the company's initial public offering on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York on March 21, 2024.
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Overview

  • Between November 2024 and March 2025, University of Zurich researchers ran an unauthorized AI experiment on Reddit's r/ChangeMyView forum, using bots to craft personalized arguments tailored to users' demographics.
  • The bots impersonated diverse personas, including rape survivors and political activists, and posted 1,783 comments, earning over 20,000 upvotes and 137 deltas for changing users' opinions.
  • Reddit moderators and users condemned the experiment as unethical, citing deception, privacy violations, and lack of consent, and filed a formal ethics complaint with the university.
  • Reddit banned all accounts linked to the study, strengthened its AI-detection systems, and is pursuing legal action against the researchers and the University of Zurich.
  • The university's ethics committee has launched an investigation, announced stricter review processes for future studies, and confirmed the researchers will not publish their findings.