Durably reducing conspiracy beliefs through dialogues with AI

Conspiracy theory beliefs are notoriously persistent. Influential theories
propose they fulfill important psychological needs, thus resisting
counterevidence. Yet previous failures in correcting conspiracy beliefs
may be due to counterevidence being insufficiently compelling and
tailored. To evaluate this possibility, we leverage developments in
generative artificial intelligence and engaged 2,190 conspiracy believers
in personalized evidence-based dialogues with GPT-4 Turbo. The
intervention reduced conspiracy belief by ~20%. The effect remained 2
months later, generalized across a wide range of conspiracy theories, and
occurred even among participants with deeply entrenched beliefs. Although
the dialogues focused on a single conspiracy, they nonetheless diminished
belief in unrelated conspiracies and shifted conspiracy-related behavioral
intentions. These findings suggest that many conspiracy theory believers
can revise their views if presented with sufficiently compelling evidence.