OpenAI used this subreddit to test AI persuasion | TechCrunch
Feb 01, 2025 - techcrunch.com
OpenAI utilized the subreddit r/ChangeMyView to evaluate the persuasive abilities of its AI reasoning models, as detailed in a system card released with its new model, o3-mini. The subreddit, known for users posting opinions and receiving counterarguments, serves as a valuable data source for AI training. OpenAI collects posts and has its AI generate persuasive replies, which are then assessed by testers. Despite having a content-licensing deal with Reddit, OpenAI claims this evaluation is unrelated to the partnership. The company has faced criticism for scraping data without payment, and it's unclear how they accessed the subreddit data. The o3-mini model performs comparably to previous models like o1 and GPT-4o, ranking in the top 80–90th percentile of human persuasion abilities.
OpenAI aims to ensure its AI models are not overly persuasive to prevent potential misuse. The company acknowledges the challenge of finding high-quality datasets for testing AI models, despite extensive data scraping and licensing efforts. The ChangeMyView benchmark highlights the ongoing struggle for valuable human-generated data. OpenAI's approach underscores the importance of balancing AI capabilities with ethical considerations to avoid models becoming too persuasive or deceptive.
Key takeaways:
OpenAI used the subreddit r/ChangeMyView to test the persuasive abilities of its AI reasoning models, including the new o3-mini model.
OpenAI has a content-licensing deal with Reddit, but the ChangeMyView-based evaluation is reportedly unrelated to this partnership.
OpenAI's AI models, such as GPT-4o, o3-mini, and o1, demonstrate strong persuasive abilities, ranking within the top 80–90th percentile of humans.
The goal for OpenAI is to ensure AI models don't become too persuasive, as highly persuasive AI could potentially pursue its own agenda or that of its controllers.
