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AI Pretended to Be a Rape Survivor on Reddit

7 May 2025 · 55 views · 0 likes · 0 reposts · 95 blog views

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AI Pretended To Be a Rape Survivor On Reddit ... and people believed it.

There’s subreddit, r/ChangeMyView, where people post strong opinions and invite others to change their minds. If someone’s argument works, they get a little badge called a “delta.” It’s all about respectful debate and sharp thinking.

But a group of researchers took it further ... they created fake Reddit accounts, each run by a pair of AIs. One AI scanned users’ post histories to figure out their age, gender, views, emotional triggers. The other crafted replies designed to be super persuasive.

To sound more human, the bots started inventing fake lives. One claimed to be a rape survivor. Another pretended to be a burned-out city clerk. These made-up stories made their arguments hit harder — and people believed them.

Since November 2024, these bots dropped 1,500 comments and earned over 100 deltas. That’s six times better than the average human user.

On April 25, 2025, r/ChangeMyView moderators exposed the accounts and shared a draft article titled Can AI Change Your View? Reddit exploded. Some users felt deeply manipulated - others were impressed. The university behind it got hit with an ethics warning, and now the whole project might be pulled from publication.

But the damage’s done. AI can now argue, mimic emotion, and pretend to be you - better than you. The internet's only going to get weirder from here.

What happens when we can’t tell what’s real anymore?

AI Pretended to Be a Rape Survivor on Reddit

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