Researchers at the Universities of Freiburg and Heidelberg ran two double blind randomized studies with 492 participants, using a 15 minute text version of the Fast Friends Procedure, a format designed to speed up bonding with a stranger. The twist is perception. The strongest effect showed up when the AI was presented as human, and it faded when people believed they were talking to AI. Participants answered a timed sequence of prompts that gradually became more personal. After each prompt, a...
