By India McCarty
Reddit is threatening legal action after researchers from the University of Zurich used AI bots to see how the technology can influence human opinion.
“The study aims to investigate the persuasiveness of Large Language Models (LLMs) in natural online environments,” a description of the study reads. “Specifically, we consider r/changemyview, a Reddit community where people write controversial opinions and challenge other users to change their minds through comments and discussion.”
The researchers deployed AI bots, posing as real people, to this Reddit thread, where they attempted to change human users’ opinions on topics ranging from racism to sexual abuse to the AI’s role in society.
Researchers from the University of Zurich conducted a secret brainwashing experiment on Reddit. Although unauthorized, these researchers used artificial intelligence to see if they could sway the opinions of regular people on the website. And the results are concerning. pic.twitter.com/QO1UpnBaq7
— Crossroads with Joshua Philipp (@crossroads_josh) May 1, 2025
The study has already drawn major controversy, with Reddit, the users on the thread and even the University of Zurich criticizing the researchers for their methods.
Reddit’s chief legal officer, Ben Lee, posted about the situation on Reddit, calling the experiment “improper and highly unethical.”
“What this University of Zurich team did is deeply wrong on both a moral and legal level. It violates academic research and human rights norms, and is prohibited by Reddit’s user agreement and rules, in addition to the subreddit rules,” he continued. “We are in the process of reaching out to the University of Zurich and this particular research team with formal legal demands. We want to do everything we can to support the community and ensure that the researchers are held accountable for their misdeeds here.”
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Melanie Nyfeler, a spokeswoman for the University of Zurich, issued a statement saying the university was aware of the research team’s experiment but that they had been heavily cautioned to inform participants and follow Reddit’s guidelines.
“In light of these events, the Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences intends to adopt a stricter review process in the future and, in particular, to coordinate with the communities on the platforms prior to experimental studies,” she continued. “The relevant authorities at the University of Zurich are aware of the incidents and will now investigate them in detail and critically review the relevant assessment processes.”
However, the research team have been defending their methods on Reddit, telling users, “A careful review of the content of these flagged comments revealed no instances of harmful, deceptive, or exploitative messaging, other than the potential ethical issue of impersonation itself.”
It’s still unclear if and when Reddit would press charges against the University of Zurich research team, but this recent experiment is a terrifying reminder of the ways AI bots have become commonplace in today’s online life.
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