The Answer Bot Effect (ABE): A powerful new form of influence made possible by intelligent personal assistants and search engines.

ABSTRACT: We introduce and quantify a relatively new form of influence: the Answer Bot Effect (ABE). In a 2015 report in PNAS, researchers demonstrated the power that biased search results have to shift opinions and voting preferences without people's knowledge-by up to 80% in some demographic groups. They labeled this phenomenon the Search Engine Manipulation Effect (SEME), speculating that its power derives from the high level of trust people have in algorithmically-generated content. We now describe three experiments with a total of 1,736 US participants conducted to determine to what extent giving users "the answer"-either via an answer box at the top of a page of search results or via a vocal reply to a question posed to an intelligent personal assistant (IPA)-might also impact opinions and vot

SUBMITTER: Epstein R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9159602 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature