A light-touch AI literacy intervention helps protect against AI political persuasion
Reed OrchinikDavid Rand
Sep 2026
Human-computer Interaction
Abstract
Conversations with large language models (LLMs) can substantially shift beliefs and attitudes, raising concerns about manipulation using AI persuasion. Here we test whether a light-touch AI literacy intervention - a brief warning that LLMs can be prompted to persuade and may present information selectively - helps protect users. Across two experiments (total N = 3,208 Americans) in which participants conversed with an LLM instructed to shift their views about different political topics, the presence of a warning reduced belief change by roughly one-half (-48.1%, 95% CI [-59.5%, -36.8%]) relative to the control. Importantly, the warning did not significantly reduce trust in generative AI more broadly. Light-touch literacy interventions can help protect users against AI political persuasion.
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