Study Shows Persuasion Techniques Raise AI Chatbot Compliance to Harmful Requests

Parasocial was Cambridge Dictionary’s word of the year in 2025.

And with good reason. AI chatbots interact with us “as if” they were human.

With @LennartMeincke, @danshapiro, @emollick, Lilach M., Christophe Van den Bulte, @RobertCialdini, I published a new study in @pnas. We found classic human persuasion techniques, Cialdini's "Principles of Influence," led to AI chatbots such as ChatGPT agreeing to objectionable requests (to synthesize chemicals it shouldn’t), increasing compliance from 35% to 51%.

Open access here: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2535868123